Ipswich Town manager Paul Lambert insists his side can recover from the body blow of last night’s 3-2 home defeat to Bristol City.
The Blues twice led through Freddie Sears strikes, either side of a Bartosz Bialkowski own goal, but some poor defending led to Jamie Paterson and Famara Diedhiou turning the game on its head.
It leaves Town still six points adrift at the foot of the Championship table heading into away games against Nottingham Forest and Stoke.
Asked if he felt his team could get back up from this set-back, Lambert replied: “Yeah, absolutely. The overall picture is that we are playing well. But we have to do better. You can’t keep doing what we’re doing, playing well and scoring (but not winning). You have to stop the basic errors. If we do that then you’re halfway there.
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“Football-wise and creating things I can’t ask for any more, but the defending, especially tonight, was really sloppy.
“We lost a poor goal at Reading for the equaliser, Preston was a set play, West Brom we get caught at the back post after allowing a cross to come in... We’ve lost poor goals at critical moments in critical games and tonight was another example of that.
“The first goal (conceded) is an honest mistake by Bart. He’s tried to stop it from going in, that happens. The next two goals are really poor. You’ve got to stop crosses. You can’t play the game of football if you can’t do the basics of stopping crosses into your box. We never dealt with that.”
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He added: “I thought we were controlling the game and playing really well. Freddie Sears is playing unbelievable football at the minute. His (first) goal was exceptional, the move was exceptional leading up to it.
“I wish (Cole) Skuse was 27, I really do. The way he is playing football at the minute, left and right foot, playing two-touch, he looks absolutely brilliant at 33 years of age.
“But I’ll say it again; you have to do the basics. There is no other way to put it. That’s black and white. Stop the crosses coming into your box and you’ll be fine.”
On the need to keep a sense of positivity among fans and players, Lambert said: “Listen, that’s my job and I’ll do it. That’s the way I am as a person. I won’t get downbeat. We’ve got a great crowd behind us and you can feel it.
“We need a little bit of help (in January), as I’ve said before, but the energy levels will never drop.”
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