Conor Chaplin says he expects Town to compete with every team in the division after the Blues narrowly fell to their first defeat of the season in a seven-goal thriller against Leeds United at Portman Road.

The Blues got off to the perfect start when Joe Rodon turned Kayden Jackson’s cross into his own net inside just seven minutes, but the Whites capitalised on some lacklustre defending to strike three times in nine minutes and turn the game on its head after a frantic opening 20 minutes.

Nathan Broadhead pulled one back in first-half stoppage time, but Luis Sinisterra’s 75th-minute goal meant it was too little too late by the time Chaplin made it 4-3 in second-half time added on.

But Chaplin argued the Blues created the better chances against a side who were playing two divisions above Town last season.

“It was a good game,” he said. “I thought generally we were the better team for large spells of the game. We probably didn’t defend moments from quality players well enough, which is disappointing because we’ve been so good at that and is probably one of our real strengths.

“A foundation that we build a lot of our play off is being solid, so it was disappointing the way we conceded the goals. I thought there was a foul on Samy [Morsy] for the fourth goal, definitely, but then we get done inside and it’s a good finish.

“But I thought we were the better team and we had the better chances. We had more chances, more shots, more territory, but they’ve come out on the good side of the margins today and that’s something we’ll be looking to put right in the next one.

“Like I alluded to earlier, we missed a few chances in the first half, we had a lot of territory and pressure. I don’t think we had loads of chances at the start of the second half, it was probably towards the back end, from memory.

“I think we had a lot of corners but I’m not sure I can remember too many chances at the start of the second half. The frustrating one is the foul on the fourth as the two-goal lead is obviously better for them.

“We were confident we were going to score again, we really were. It was just a pity it was so so late.”

The forward says Town will be judged on all of the matches they play and was keen to stress the importance of respecting every team in the division equally.

When asked if the visit of Leeds is the sort of game Town will be judged on, he said: “No, I think every game. You’d be naïve and disrespectful to say that you wouldn’t judge yourself against QPR or Cardiff. I’m saying those teams because we just played them and we’ve got to play them.

“I think every single team, whether you’re at the top end of the table or the bottom end of the table judging on last season as there’s only four games played.

“We expect to compete with every team in the league, we don’t want any pats on the back for competing with Leeds and having a good game. That means nothing to us, we expect to be competing with them teams.”

While there was obvious disappointment to not get anything from the game, Chaplin says there was no downcast mood in the dressing room.

“No, not at all,” he said. “That’s the division we’re in now, we want to be competing at the top end of this division and it’s not a surprise to us that we’ve been the better team today.

“At home we’ll be a match for absolutely anyone in this league, we truly believe that. We work so hard, we’re well coached, we expect to be on top in these games, we expect to have good chances in these games.

“It’s not ‘well done, you’ve competed with Leeds’, it’s not like that at all, we expect it from within so that’s why there’s a bit of disappointment.

“We’ve scored three goals at home, we expect to get something out of the game.”

The visitors’ goalscorers included Joël Piroe, Georginio Rutter and Sinisterra, of whom the Whites paid £10.5m, £36m and £21m respectively.

Despite the obvious strength in the Leeds attack, the Blues did not panic and felt hard done by to find themselves two goals behind in the first half.

Chaplin said: “We believe in what we do. I thought when we were 3-1 down we’d had better chances – I missed a great chance, Wes [Burns] missed a great chance, we had great moments to flash the ball across the box that they defended well, had a lot of corners.

“We believe in what we do, that’s why there’s no panic. We just kept doing what we were doing, we took a lot of confidence from the start of the game and to find yourself 3-1 down was a bit ruthless.

“But there’s millions of pounds of attacking talent on their team – it’s going to be ruthless. There’s going to be times where you need to come up against quality and come out on top and we probably didn’t do that enough defensively at times, that’s the disappointment.”

Defeat was Town’s first since early February and brought an end to the Blues’ unbeaten run of 21 matches in all competitions. It was also the first defeat at home since October last year.

Chaplin said: “The run was something that we never spoke about, just like we never spoke about trying to get promotion last season. It was never an agenda in the changing room or in discussion.

“It’s always just focusing on the process, that’s what we do all the time. You learn off the back of winning and you learn off the back of losing.

“It’s just the next game mantra and that’s probably why we did go on a good run because that was our mentality. We were humble and very hard-working and that’s put us in a good place for the last 20-odd games.”

Chaplin struck his second in as many games with virtually the final kick of the game after five minutes of added time were signalled, a decision the former Barnsley man was not pleased with.

“The only disappointment is that it was a consolation,” the 26-year-old said. “I actually thought it was confusing that we had five minutes added on at the end of the game. We’ve had ten substitutions, that’s five minutes in itself.

“There was a lot of time-wasting from them that the ref [Bobby Madley] was telling us every single time he was noting it down. There were players going down, we had a couple of players go down with injuries.

“Five minutes was frustrating, we got 13 minutes in the second half at Sunderland in the first game of the season and five minutes today, with six minutes in the first half.

“That’s really annoying personally and I can’t really get my head around it, especially when you score late on and you expect to get five or six minutes to go and get an equaliser because that’s what we should have played.

“It’s just frustrating because every single game is different and you look for certain things one game and not the next. They were time-wasting in the first half and the ref said ‘I know, I know, I know’ but [they kept doing it] until they got a booking but they didn’t so they kept doing it.”

Chaplin attempted to recall his winning goal at Queens Park Rangers last weekend and emphasised the importance of getting off the mark early on, having struck 29 times in all competitions for the Blues last season.

He said: “I’m trying to remember it now, I’ve forgotten about that already. Good away day, good three points but obviously I’ve forgotten about that quite quickly after the game.

“It’s important every season to get going and I have done now which is important. And all the forward players have so that’s a positive we can take as well.”

Town sit sixth in the early Championship standings having taken nine points from the opening four league games, a healthy position to be in ahead of the Carabao Cup tie at Reading on Tuesday.

“We’re not looking at the [international] break yet, we’ve got two games before that and it’s very important for us to bounce back,” Chaplin said.

“We’ve got Reading away on Tuesday [in the Carabao Cup] which is going to be tough, we want to progress in that competition and it’s a really good one for our squad. We want to get good games and games you can look forward to, definitely.

“And then Cardiff at home on Saturday is a game we’ll be looking to bounce back in the league, for sure.”

Photo: TWTD

Tractorboy58 added 09:51 - Aug 27 Agreed that we out played them for large parts of the game - just goalkeeping blunders and missed chances cost us - If we continue to make and take the chances that we are creating and tighten up a little at the back then we will be a real force in this league
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Powrigan added 10:10 - Aug 27 There are no excuses for that shambolic first half performance, we beat ourselves by playing like a bunch of clowns.
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pennblue added 10:37 - Aug 27 We now know what playing against a £70m strike force is like and have an idea of the size of task to get promoted out of this league. Given the difference in financial clout, it is going to be a huge challenge, and not everything can be coached. Over to you Mr Ashton.
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Linkboy13 added 11:38 - Aug 27 Yes we were probably the best team over the 90 minute's plus injury time but when you pay big money for a player you get a bigger,stronger better athlete and clinical finisher. We created plenty of chances but the finishing wasn't championship quality. Leeds have 4 or 5 premier league players so it was no disgrace to lose to them. Hladky is a good number 2 keeper but he's made more mistakes than Walton did all last season. You should always build your team from the back and that's what i would be concentrating on in the transfer market.

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billlm added 12:38 - Aug 27 Not a good day for kladky, Their fourth goal the fee got that all wrong morsy wins a good header gets fouled, ball runs straight to them our whole midfield wiped out, 100% a foul, Wouldn't have lost that otherwise Wouldn't have lost if Walton was in goal, I'm up beat were competing onwards and upwards,
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Bazza8564 added 12:52 - Aug 27 We were the better team, but they had the better individuals and at times, their moments of brilliance and our errors cost us dearly. But this is Leeds United, not Accrington Stanley, we scored three goals and gave them a good run around for large parts of the game so we can take a lot from the game. We know we need to strengthen, we've always known, we knew we would lose games to good sides this season and yes, thats one. But 9 from 12 we would all have taken, trust the gaffer to get use those lessons and changes made and Mark to get those deals done, it's a big week and there are lots of positives

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TimmyH added 13:13 - Aug 27 Wes Burns needs to sharpen up in front of goal, he's had 3 or 4 good opportunities this season to get on the sheet but has failed!...we defo need another quality cb and striker or maybe a right winger.
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herfie added 13:42 - Aug 27 The first half collective and individual defensive ricks were totally inexplicable - even given the potency of their front line. Similarly, Hladky was way below the standard enquired at this level. Did we start with some sort of psychological inferiority against a ‘big name’ outfit? KMcK will no doubt conduct a thorough and unemotive review of those key moments that resulted in us conceding such poor goals; and act to reduce the chances of future repetition. I suppose the ‘elephant in the room’ question is: a where are the weaknesses in our defensive unit, and how do we bring in better quality.

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jas0999 added 14:25 - Aug 27 Watched the highlights this morning and the defending and goalkeeping looked even worse than I remember yesterday. The keeper in particular was extremely poor. Not much good to report from the defending either.
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dirtydingusmagee added 14:32 - Aug 27 Timmy ,agree he needs to be finishing better, but its only a couple of matches in and to be fair others have missed chances too, imo he had a decent game, wouldnt be too harsh .We have to bare in mind that we are up from Lge 1 and were playing a relegated prem team with parachute payment, their budget is way above what we can expect .I know Blueboy thinks we should be chucking the Royal mint into the transfer market, but we cant. The reality is this season will be tough , dont expect too much.But imo we will hold our own against most this season . 'Rome wasnt built in a day'' COYB

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BobbyBell added 14:33 - Aug 27 No one ever got to the top of their sport without making mistakes along the way. We will not win every game and now and again we will give goals away or miss chances. Getting better is the important thing and it's a long season. Negative comments don't help in any way.
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Portman51 added 14:53 - Aug 27 Honest and fair appraisal from Chaplin. He owes us nothing after last season, but it was unfortunate his failure to turn the ball into an empty net was the difference between 2-1 and 1-2, as he obviously realises. I'm sure McKenna will be going through the video with the squad and a fine toothed comb because on another day all four Leeds goals would have been prevented. It was just one of those games, and a very entertaining one at that. I'm still confident about this season, with or without further additions.

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terryf added 14:57 - Aug 27 Too many mistakes and missed chances cost us the game because overall we were probably the better Team. Wes needs to hit the line a lot more as he had the beating of the full back to put in a few crosses. Opposition at this level are much sharper both creating and putting away chances. We'll improve for sure but certainly need reinforcements. Hopefully some positive movement this week?

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BlueRuin69 added 15:00 - Aug 27 We were the better side by far. Coyb!
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churchmans added 15:08 - Aug 27 What game was you watching blueruin69???? There is a lot of could of should of if we done this thar! Hladky got done!! Wolf got done! Williamson got turned and done for there 3rd!! They had a good attack and we will learn and get better as a result of this!!! Leeds where prolific and they got what they deserve! I am not worried as we will come back better
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Nomore4 added 16:11 - Aug 27 Looking forward to seeing Slicker V Reading. Will eventually be no1. Maybe sooner than expected.
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PhuketPete added 16:58 - Aug 27 Easy to pick on Vas whilst overlooking he also made two or three terrific saves and the “mistakes” he’s blamed for stemmed from or also involved errors by others. Can’t blame him at all for 1st and 4th. 2nd maybe but Leif should also have had the back post covered. For the 3rd Harry will regret allowing the winger to cut inside and replays show Vas was unsighted for the shot. Not sure many keepers could have held it.

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Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 17:26 - Aug 27 Agree, PhuketPete: VH has come in for all the criticism, and I don't think he deserves it. First goal is not his fault. Second goal he does give the ball back to Leeds, but largely because he's put under pressure from a back pass from his own defender. And anyway, this did not directly result in a goal. There was plenty of opportunity for our defence to deal with the situation before Leeds the scored. Third goal - don't really see what he could have done about that one. Fourth goal - yes, that's an error. He spills it. On the other hand as PPete says, he also made one or two outstanding saves. So all in all, while he might not have had his best day, he didn't do that badly, and he wasn't helped by his defenders.

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Linkboy13 added 17:43 - Aug 27 All goalkeeper's make brilliant saves. It's the best keeper's that make fewer mistakes. It can also be said that a keeper is only as good as his defence in front of him and yesterday they were poor.
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dirtydingusmagee added 18:41 - Aug 27 i take it nobody on here has ever had a ''bad day at the office '' . Sh#t happens, as long as it dosnt happen every week . It was 3-4 not 0-4 lets move on COYB
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BlueySwede added 20:54 - Aug 27 I think a draw would probably have been a fair result. We had more possession and shots off target, but Leeds felt very, very dangerous in their attacks. We need a defender or two if we want to compete with the best teams. Hladky has been great, but looked nervous yesterday. Better second half, I hope it was just one of those days.
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DerryfromBury added 21:00 - Aug 27 @Powrigan I respect your opinion, but, I think describing the players as " A Bunch of Clowns" is a little harsh and I might add unfair. Yes for sure, in spite of the early OG we struggled to get to grips with the opposition, particularly their midfield, but there was no panic, unlike previous seasons. Granted came up wanting in defence, against a very potent attacking force. Whilst disappointed with the result, had Walton and Hirst been available I think it would have been at least 1 point if not the 3. Like KMc There was a lot more positives than negatives.

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oldelsworthyfan added 09:05 - Aug 28 With Walton and Hirst this was a game we would have won
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Gdunkdafunk added 13:03 - Aug 28 On another day we would have taken something from that performance with the personnel available. We were 3 players adrift of our strongest side, there is no need for doom n gloom. Of course the idiots will say their usual BS on here, tempting us all to become embroiled in responding, rise above.
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