CARLOS Edwards has questioned the commitment shown by his Town team-mates after another dismal second half showing saw them lose at home to play-off chasing Leicester City.
A dominant 40 minutes was capped by Jason Scotland’s opening goal, a calm finish rounding off a lovely passage of passing from the hosts.
But after Ben Marshall equalised just seconds before half-time, Ipswich surrendered meekly after the break with David Nugent’s 57th minute header proving the difference.
It was the second successive match that the Blues have failed to come out fighting in the second half and Edwards admitted: “It was the same old scenario when we start well but then we are not up to par after half-time.”
“We had a great first half (against Leicester) but the killer blow was them scoring on the stroke of half-time.
“The guys were disappointed but we were still in the game, but we came out second half not really committed. We looked a bit down for some reason – it was like we were losing.
Edwards felt his side were again let down by a failure to take their chances although Town’s dominance in possession was never really matched by clear-cut openings.
Grant Leadbitter and Ryan Stevenson both had decent shots from distance but they found Foxes keeper Kasper Schmeichel in good form.
Edwards said: “We were good in the first half but we should have taken more of our chances – then the game would have been dead and buried.
“We didn’t come out of the blocks in the second half. That is one of the things the manager has been trying to instil in us.
“We can’t be one of those teams that play well in one half but not in the other. We are not going to dominate the 90 minutes of every game, but if you can dominate most of it, it’s a plus. We have to go back to the drawing board and do something to make sure we are playing well for the majority of a game.”
But the skipper had more words of encouragement for keeper Arran Lee-Barrett who was at fault for Leicester’s opener on Monday before making a string of fine second half saves.
Edwards said: “He’s done a great job since he has come in. He made some great saves against Leicester and kept us in it. We should have used that as an incentive and tried to kick forward. But the guys didn’t get their bearings in the second half. Leicester deserved the three points at the end of the day.”