Ipswich Town midfielder Cole Skuse says it will be difficult for the players to look back on Saturday’s 2-0 loss at Brentford, admitting the second half display was ‘not good enough’.

Bees centre-back John Egan scored twice, both times after corner kicks were poorly defended, and the Blues never looked like mounting a comeback.

“We were disappointed it was only nil-nil at half-time after playing some really good stuff,” said Skuse. “Then, in the second half, we just folded. It wasn’t good enough. We’re very, very disappointed with that because we know that shouldn’t be happening.

“They were goals we can avoid. They were goals we pride ourselves on avoiding really. After the first goal goes in we have to show a bit more drive to get back in the game. Even at 2-0 you have to fancy yourself to get back in the game, but in the second half we didn’t have that drive.”

Asked why that was the case, he replied: “It’s always hard straight after a game to put your finger on why. It’s going to be hard to watch the game back and break it down and work out why.”

Blues skipper Luke Chambers made similar comments about ‘desire’ after the 1-0 EFL Cup defeat to Stevenage. Are the Town players hurting enough?

“Oh, we’re hurting,” said Skuse. “It’s hard, especially being an older head in the dressing room, because you try and take a bit more of the responsibility.

“It’s tough to swallow. It’s never easy getting on your phone afterwards and your friends and your partner are ringing asking ‘how did you get on?’ and you have to say ‘we were poor’.”

With Town playing at Wolves tomorrow night, Skuse added: “It’s never nice to have a long week off the back of a second half like that, so it’s good that we’ve got a game coming up straight away.

“There was some good from the first half, stuff we’ve been working on, so it’s about getting the balance right between highlighting the positives and negatives.”