Flynn Downes knows Ipswich Town have simply not been good enough during a season he has described as ‘horrible’ from a personal point of view.

The midfielder, 22, was part of the Ipswich side beaten 3-0 at AFC Wimbledon on Tuesday evening as any lingering play-off hopes suffered a near-terminal blow at Plough Lane.

Defeat leaves Ipswich five points off the play-offs with just six games left to play, with Downes insisting the performance was simply not good enough.

“The result stinks,” Downes said. “It isn’t good enough from us and we know it.

“We knew their gameplan with two big strikers (Oli Palmer and Joe Pigott) in the box and balls going in but we didn’t deal with it and that was the story of the game.

“It’s understandable that fans are losing heart because we should be winning games like this easily and we’ve lost 3-0. That’s not good enough and I don’t know what to say, really.

“If I knew the problem then I’d sort it. Honestly, I haven’t got a clue. It’s not good enough. The boys are trying but it’s not good enough.

“I’m speechless because we knew what they were going to do and we didn’t deal with it. We need to sort ourselves out.”

Downes was visibly hurt by the loss, in which he was the Blues’ best player.

“It hurts a lot because you want to be getting praised and be winning games, which isn’t happening for us at the moment,” he said.

“Everyone deals with things in a different way but I know I’m hurting.

“There’s something wrong. I won’t be sleeping after this but we know we have to go again on Saturday (at Charlton).

“It dents your confidence but we need to go in and try and put this right. We’re not out of this yet but it’s getting hard and we know that. We’ve still got that in the back of our heads and we have to put it right.”

Injury has restricted Downes to just 11 league starts this season, denying the Blues one of their most influential spells.

“I’m happy to be back out there because I want to help the team,” he said. Losing 3-0 isn’t doing that.

“For me it’s been a horrible season. I’ve basically just been injured and once I got back to fitness the first time then I got injured again. Hopefully I can stay fit now.”