Black day for Lee

By Derek Davis

SPORTING an eye almost as black as his mood after the defeat at West Brom, Alan Lee believes Ipswich could have won at the Hawthorns - instead they ended up losing 4-0..

After making the mistake that led to the Baggies' opener, Lee went close to salvaging at least a point but his header came back from the inside of a post and he was kicked in the face by Carl Hoefkens during the clearance.

Lee groaned: “The telling point was when it came back from the post and I knew it was not going to be our day because if that had gone in I felt we would have gone on and won it.

“The header came back to me and their fella appeared from nowhere to clear it.”

Lee also had an early chance to put Town ahead but shot wide and never had another clear opening again until the second half.

The Blues leading scorer admitted making a crucial error that led to Ishmael Miller's opener and it needed another half-time pep-talk from boss Jim Magilton to get them going again. Lee said: “We started well in the first half but gave away a sloppy goal as I made a mistake and they went up and scored.

“The manager had a few words at half time and we rearranged it and came out to do well in the second half.

“For 40 minutes we more than matched West Brom and we could have won it.

“We had the chances but didn't take them and in the end the 4-0 score was total garbage.”

The Blues reorganised during the break and for the second game running came out in far more positive style for the second half.

Lee said: “That happens in football. You put out a side and try to second-guess what the opposition are doing. If it doesn't work then that is what half time team talks are for.”

Filipe Teixeira netted two minutes from time before Kevin Phillips added two more to hand Town their biggest defeat since their 5-1 beating at the hands of the same side at Portman Road last October.