Ipswich Town defender Dara O’Shea was frustrated by his side’s performance in their 2-0 defeat to Everton at Portman Road.

The Blues were optimistic that they could end their wait for a Premier League win, but goals from Iliman Ndiaye and Michael Keane saw the game escape their grasp before the half-time whistle was blown.

“The scoreline doesn’t reflect how we’d want it to be,” O’Shea said after the match.

“If we score our chance early on or we get that penalty decision, it’s a different game.

“Going behind against these, they’re going to sit back and make it difficult. That’s the way the game went.”

The overall performance was a concern. It wasn’t that Ipswich were unlucky to lose – they struggled to impose themselves on the game and registered just two shots on target across the 90 minutes.

“That’s the problem, isn’t it? You’ve got to score goals to win games,” O’Shea admitted. “If you’re not scoring, it’s not going to happen.

“We created a few chances. We’d like to create more against a side like this, but it wasn’t to be today.”

Defensively, Town found things hard too. Set pieces and balls into the box often caused chaos, and that allowed the Toffees to capitalise in the right moments.

“We knew it was going to happen with them,” O’Shea explained. “We did our work on them, that’s obviously what they’re good at.

“Getting balls into the box is one of their main attributes as a team. We need to defend them better, we need to keep the balls out and clear our box at times.

“We’re getting the first contact and winning it, we just need to clear it then and get it up the pitch so they can’t score.

“On the opposite side, I think we created a few chances from set plays as well. We’ve got to put one in.”

Performances like this are a rarity at Portman Road. Since the start of last season, only Leeds United, Maidstone United and Liverpool had managed to beat Ipswich at Portman Road. Everton can now add their names to that list.

Even when they have dropped points on home soil, the Blues have usually looked strong. This time, it didn’t happen.

“It’s what we’d like to do every game, to have that energy and that performance,” O’Shea stated. “Sometimes it doesn’t happen for whatever reason, and we’ve got to look back on that ourselves.

“Did we play the way we wanted to play? All in all, probably not. There are areas we can probably improve on.

“We need to create that atmosphere here at home.

“With the performances, we’re playing the way that we want to play. We’re just making mistakes when it comes to the goals and that’s where we’re getting punished.

“We’ve still got to keep doing what we’re doing on the ball, keep playing that style of football. It’s working, that’s definitely not the reason why we’re losing.

“We’re conceding poor goals at times, that was the case today.”

O’Shea can sense the fans’ frustration. The wait for a Premier League win has been far for ideal, but he believes that patience will be key, urging the supporters to continue sticking with the team.

“We feel that they want that win to come,” he said. “They’ve been excellent.

“Just keep doing what you’re doing, you’re really helping us, especially at home. The travelling support too, it’s been amazing.

“It’s going to come. I think they can see that at times too. We just need to have that full performance now.”

This match saw O’Shea play at right-back, with both Axel Tuanzebe and Ben Johnson ruled out through injury.

The 25-year-old played in that role for the Republic of Ireland during the recent international break, but while he feels comfortable doing so, he knows it’s not his best position.

“I played there twice for Ireland during the international break and started my career at West Brom at right-back. I had to break in there at right-back.

“I’m comfortable with the position, I know how to play it. Obviously, centre-back is my preferred position and that’s where I see myself playing in the future.

“I’m happy to play anywhere for the team, especially with a few injuries. I need to step up and do the best as I can in that position.”

All eyes turn to next weekend, where Ipswich head to an in-form Brentford side who’ve won three of their four matches on home soil this season.

O’Shea knows that Ipswich will need to focus on what went wrong against Everton, but believes that they can put it behind them to move on quickly in the coming days.

“We’ll go in Monday, focus on the game and put it to bed. Then we’ll start focusing on Brentford,” he revealed.

“Hopefully we’ll have a good week training, then we’re on the road down to London for that game.

“It’ll be a tough game, they’ve done well. I know they didn’t win today [2-1 defeat at Manchester United] but they’ve been playing really well as of late.

“I’m looking forward to that.”