Blackpool v Ipswich: Blues boss Paul Jewell admits his team have gone ‘from the sublime to the ridiculous’ in their opening week of the season.

Praise was heaped on his young Blues side after four points were secured against Blackburn and Watford, but they capitulated to a heavy 6-0 defeat at in-form Blackpool this afternoon.

Aaron Cresswell netted an unfortunate own goal in the 12th minute following a Tommy Smith error, while Gary Taylor-Fletcher doubled the lead seconds before the break after a misplaced Luke Chambers pass.

Hot young talent Tom Ince then took over in the second half, scoring with a brilliant snap-shot in the 50th minute before curling home another from nowhere eight minutes later.

With Bloomfield Road rocking, Craig Cathcart headed home from a corner just past the hour, with substitute Nouha Dicko completing the rout at the death.

Home boss Ian Holloway labelled it a ‘freak result’ and insisted his side benefited greatly from getting game-changing goals either side of the break.

Jewell, however, preferred to focus on his side’s own inadequacies – this result coming little over a year to the day the Blues were thumped 7-1 at Peterborough United.

“I think for the first 44 minutes you couldn’t see that coming,” said Jewell. “I thought we had as much of the ball as them, although we didn’t do an awful lot with it, and then we’ve gifted them goals.

“The second goal has gone in at a crucial time and that meant it was always going to be an uphill task. Once their third went in we capitulated I have to say.

“It’s not as if our keeper has had too many saves to make. I looked at the stats at half-time; we had more crosses than them, more shots than them. And yet we found ourselves 2-0 down.

“The key element, and I keep coming back to this, is that we’ve got to be better in their final third and we’ve got to be better in our final third.

“You can’t give good teams like this chances and expect to win matches. They’ve got a lot of flair players, players who work exceptionally hard – they’re a good team. To lose 6-0 though, it feels horrible.”

He continued: “I think it’s a rude awakening. The spirit in the camp is good, there’s no doubt about that, but we’ve played exceptionally well against Blackburn and Watford and then gone to this.

“It’s the sublime to the ridiculous really and that’s been our Achilles heel for a long time. On our day we’re good, but when we’re not on our game…

“How many times did they score on a counter-attack? It wasn’t as if they had bouts of pressure and were banging on the door.

“When we had the ball in decent positions we didn’t do enough with it and counter-attacking has hurt us badly. When the ball’s been turned over we’ve been exposed.

“I’m not going to blame it on being a young squad, I just thought some of the goals were basic errors. The first has seen a mistake from absolutely nowhere, there’s no danger. The second one is a player passing the ball in the wrong area. Attempting that pass on the halfway line with a minute to half-time - an experienced player should know better.”