Frustrated, disappointed, but refusing to press the panic button, that was the post-match assessment of keeper Christian Walton after Ipswich Town’s 1-0 home defeat to lowly Lincoln City.

Ben House’s 24th minute goal inflicted Town’s first home league defeat of the season as Plymouth’s comprehensive 4-1 win at MK Dons saw them increase their lead over Town at the top to four points.

It was also the first time Ipswich had not scored in the league — despite having 33 shots and 76 per cent of the possession.

Walton admitted: “It was frustrating, but I think it was just one of those games which you will have over the course of the season.

“It’s disappointing on certain aspects, but overall I thought we had enough chances — the stats will back that up.

“But at the end of the day, we’ve lost 1-0. You can take what you like out of the stats, we’ve lost the game.”

After starting slow, Ipswich fell behind to House’s back-post header. It was the second consecutive game Town had conceded from a set piece — a fact not lost on Walton.

He said: “It was disappointing as we work hard on our set plays and it’s disappointing to take that.

“You can’t practice what happened [with the goal]. You can stay switched on and not lose your man and defend it probably a little bit better.

“To concede two set plays in two weeks is disappointing. But we work hard on them so over a period of time we will be better.

“As a group, we can be happy with the second-half performance. We’ve just not got over the line so fair play to Lincoln for defending really well.”

Ipswich laid siege to Lincoln’s goal after the break, but Walton acknowledged it was the slow start that proved their undoing.

He explained: “The first period of any game is massive, whether you are in the Premier League or the Conference.

“Starting games well is vital to how you progress and we didn’t start as well as we have been in games.

“You look at Bristol Rovers at home, Cambridge at home, I know they play different systems but we started well in those games and we are putting them on the back foot.

“They are coming to a packed out stadium. I’ve been there myself in the Championship when you go as the underdog and you are holding on for your life. If you defend well, you get the rub of the green and it was one of those games really.

“As a collective group, we were disappointed with the start we made and then to give a set play away is even more frustrating.

“We will look at why that was and reflect on it and the manager will debrief it on Monday.

Walton called on his teammates to bounce back ahead of Friday’s big televised clash at home to Derby County and the midweek trip to Cambridge United in the Papa Johns Trophy.

He added: “I don’t think it was a bad day at the office at all. It happens, people make wrong decisions, right decisions. The first 20 minutes wasn’t as good as we have been.

“But we are creating a lot of opportunities — I don’t think any team in this league will create that many opportunities and not win a game of football. It was just one of those games.

“It's a long old season and defeats happen. Every team is going to lose games of football, it’s about how you bounce back and react — that’s the biggest thing.

“You look at when we lost to Plymouth, we bounced back. We have got to do that again. It’s going to be a good game here on Friday night.

“They are a big team in the division so we need to show what we have been doing this season. We need to carry on from the second half [against Lincoln] and take that into Friday.

“I think the attacking players will be frustrated, individually, but as a group, it’s just getting on the end of it.

“But we have been and we’ve been scoring a lot of goals this season. We were the top goalscoring team in the division going into this game.

“I don’t think there’s any need to worry about losing one game when we are creating a lot of chances. It’s just about getting it over the line and getting the rub of the green.”

TWTD

ArnieM added 10:09 - Oct 16 Hopefully this will be the case, “ one of those games”. We shall see Friday, wont we.
3

Stato added 10:12 - Oct 16 All season long we have looked too deliberate and too slow in our transition but actually that's being hyper critical as we're doing well and sit in a promotion spot and as long as that continues then yes let's have some interesting discussion about how we have room for improvement but absolutely no point in going into meltdown the whole time we sit in the top 2.
4

Suffolkboy added 10:20 - Oct 16 I go with your sentiments ,C , BUT quantity doesn't equal quality and yesterday ITFC ,particularly in attack , were not up to the task in hand ,in more ways than one ! As to the goal conceded , then you will look at the replays and ask the same questions we as supporters posed - why on earth are ITFC standing around like statues ? This has nothing to do with practice at set pieces ,but absolutely everything to do with alacrity, intelligence and initiative ; these are ,or were yesterday, things missing throughout ! I'm afraid we can become delusional if we merely accept it was bad day at the office – and I'm sure neither you nor KM will be promoting that view for longer ,but will carefully and positively analyse the good, the bad and the simply ugly ! Come out of this the better for it , especially individually but collectively too ! As always eliminate the negative , accentuate the positive and don't mess ‘with Mr In- between ‘ ! COYB

2

Saxonblue74 added 10:24 - Oct 16 A very fair assessment. Friday night will be a totally different game as Derby will come to play football, not park the bus. Expecting something very entertaining.
3

Churchman added 10:30 - Oct 16 Derby will come to get early goals then shut the door. What the stats say is a meagre five attempts on target. You can dominate possession until the world ends, but unless there is end product, you are wasting your time.
6

Nomore4 added 10:32 - Oct 16 Just one of those games…..but we've now failed to win nearly half our home games. That won't get top 2.
5

Saxonblue74 added 10:54 - Oct 16 Nomore4, we ARE top 2! A position that I'm sure you would have accepted before the season kicked off?
3

Nomore4 added 11:20 - Oct 16 Yes Saxon we are in top 2. Losing at home to bottom half teams won't keep us there.
6

AustriaBlue added 11:21 - Oct 16 This is an unusual league this year. Looking at the last 20 plus years, 2 points absolutely guarantees promotion. There are already 4 teams running at that rate. That wont last. At least 1 if not 2 will fall away. We can lose 7 to 9 games in a season and still happily go up, particularly if points are being shared around the top 4. It does mean we shouldn't lose against these 4. We're only 1 loss down so far. Which is OK. I think we will hold our own against footballing teams. But, there will be losses against park the bus teams, like we saw here with Lincoln. It is how play against them in February like conditions, which will determine if we go up automatically. Some extra steel and some invention/skill will be very important, particularly where patterns break down. For invention I would promote Dom Ball a bit more. The reason we didn't get going on Saturday was a lot to do with Evans' tentative play, and picking up the first ball when the centre backs could have done that. Dom Ball is more likely to force the play from what I have seen. Evans likes it when the other team are on the run or dropping back. His invention apart from his great crossfield balls can be limited. Not a bad player at all but sometimes more courage and close ball skills would unlock the midfield especially where our numbers 10s are swamped by close markers.

5

terryf added 16:56 - Oct 16 Anyone who has played football will agree that you will sometimes get matches when you could be there all night and not score. However that said we had no tempo early doors, some of the passing was loose and four or five players were not quite on their game. Our finishing in good positions was often poor, snatching at opportunities and skying most or hitting straight at their keeper. Lincoln's goal was farcical and at least three of our defenders were guilty of ball watching and not being aware of players around them. We need to do much better in those situations. Yes we did improve second half but were still below our normal standards. We are so use to watching our boys playing really good football that sadly this match stood out like a sore thumb for all the wrong reasons.

4

BeattiesBackPocket added 17:05 - Oct 16 Nomore4 Wigan lost to bottom teams including Lincoln last season AT HOME so your point is well pointless
1

Bert added 17:23 - Oct 16 Shots made/on target ratio was low but when a side has a back 5 and then during the onslaught seven, it becomes a case of trying to muscle our way through a brick wall as crosses were easily dealt with. Frustrating to watch but Edwards did his best to dismantle the wall. As KMcK has said, on another day we probably would have squeezed a couple in.
1

therein61 added 17:55 - Oct 16 For me (as i've mentioned before) the lack of concentration and tight marking at the back is a concern defending set pieces we seem to go through the motions for 45 mins then wake up for the next 45 it really needs sorting out while we are still in a strong position, but hey ho we are still in a good place just stop the sloppy attitude at times C.O.Y.B.
3

Bazza8564 added 18:20 - Oct 16 Tough day this one, and time for some changes in personnel. Jackson for me should start ahead of Burns and Edwards for either Harness or Chaplin (has his faltered since that penalty miss perhaps?) Either way, our X1 yesterday was entirely predictable, time to keep a few things up our sleeves and start surprising people again. We can and will do this but yesterdays XI was playing into Mark Kennedy's hand. He will have held his breath but it was classic smash and grab stuff.....

3

OliveR16 added 19:26 - Oct 16 The thing that spooked me about this game was that although it was unusual for THIS season it was very similar to the second half of LAST season. Only time will tell whether it was a blip or a reverting to type.
4

micky_1560 added 20:58 - Oct 16 Would have been more interested on Walton's thoughts about the goals for once he didn't dominate the ball in his area. I really rate Walton, but for once, he was no where near the ball at any point. This was a type of goal when you want your keeper to sort out the danger.
3

Nomore4 added 07:40 - Oct 17 BBP. I don't give a toss what happened last season….so your constant drivel is well pointless
-2

johnwarksshorts added 07:49 - Oct 17 It's because we've been so good for the majority of the season that this result stands out like a saw thumb, and a shock to most supporters that we didn't score and lost at home! Observations on Saturdays game is first half we were to predictable always going down right side where Lincoln nullified us, we needed to up tempo and mix it up a bit. I'm sure this match will be a learning curve and KmcK will get us back on track.

2

Jugsy added 20:23 - Oct 17 A good few guilt-edge chances that we skied, mis-cued or possibly could have recycled. Every defeat is a learning opportunity and understanding we are mortal and have no right to beat teams is a solid lesson. Bad day at the office, but definitely enough of a performance to have drawn or won. Credit to Lincoln for making it difficult for us. Individual performance-wise, I think Burns needs to go away and play himself back into the team - haven't seen him play well all season. Was surprised to see Chappers hooked over Harness and still feel we need a better striker than Ladapo. A nuisance striker like Norwood would have helped divide the defence a bit and I find Ladapo looks up too late to thread a pass.

0

bobble added 08:29 - Oct 18 plymouth are just above everyone and playing ruthless football making our new super team look 2nd place......
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BeattiesBackPocket added 23:26 - Oct 19 Nomore4 I proved you constant moaning wrong so you have absolutely no comeback lol you said you can't win the league losing to team near the bottom or below when Wigan proved your theory wrong as did Rotherham last season so yeah your point isn't valid as per
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