Paul Lambert has admitted his side ‘paid the price for a bad couple of months’ as Ipswich Town slid out of the League One promotion picture.

The Blues’ 11th-place finish was confirmed today after League One clubs voted to end the season early, with the Blues one of only four clubs who voted to finish the campaign on the pitch.

Lambert’s men were in the automatic promotion places for much of the first three months of the season before falling away, with the Blues on a run of one win in nine and four successive defeats when football was halted in the middle of March due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“We had a bad couple of months before we stopped and we have the paid for that,” the Town boss told the club website.

MORE: ‘Paul is part of the club’s plans going forward’ - O’Neill backs Lambert“We were top at the end of January but we lost key players to injury and for whatever reason - and I think it was a culmination of things - we didn’t kick on.

“We had five home games left and eight matches and we would probably have needed to win six of those to have had a chance of finishing in the top six.

“We would have been capable of that but it’s not to be. We’ve got to look at what we did right and what we did wrong and learn from the mistakes.

“It’s been a time over the last two months to look at ourselves, staff and players and I’ve done that. I always do. There are definitely things I would do differently now but we’ve all got to take it on the chin and put it right next season.”

Throughout the game’s suspension the Ipswich boss has discussed his frustration at a lack of leadership from the EFL, with the Scot frustrated to see the Premier League and Championship resuming but Leagues One and Two end early.

“I think there has been a real lack of leadership at the top [of the EFL] and the whole thing has dragged on far too long,” he said.

MORE: Ipswich owner Evans on League One season ending early and season ticket compensation“It’s been diabolical the way it has been handled. They were running out of time in the end to get the season played. I always felt that. Maybe that was in their thinking.

“There was still a lot of football to be played so I don’t agree with points per game at all. I always felt we had a good chance of making the Play-Offs but look at Peterborough, they were in the top six and are now are out of it. How can that be right?

“My big bug-bear though is that we have four divisions and two are playing and two are not. We either all play, or we all don’t. We are one game, playing in the same country but the disparity is shocking. Come on!”