McAuley: ‘There was a certain amount of panic’

The central defender, who virtually stood alone as the Iron ran Ipswich ragged in the opening 30 minutes at Glanford Park, is looking for a much improved display against Reading at the Madejeski Stadium tomorrow.

Town remain unbeaten on their travels and with just one defeat in their opening 11 matches of the season.

But McAuley was pulling no punches.

He said: “At times we could not put two passes together and there was a certain amount of panic out there.

“Balls were being sliced and we lost a bit of composure when they were getting on top of us.

“And there can be no excuse.

“We knew what to expect, but did not turn up for the first half.

”It was always going to be tough, but we could not deal with it as a team in the opening period.

“We were very lucky to be just 1-0 down at the break.”

McAuley revealed the influence manager Roy Keane had on the turnaround in fortunes with Ipswich having enough second half opportunities to have been two goals ahead after a Jamie Peters’ equaliser.

“The manager changed the formation, and this allowed us to get a foot hold in the game,” added McAuley.

“We had not been doing the given things, and he told us that at the interval.

“It was the ugly side of the game that we were failing to do and we were told that if we did that we would get back into the game – and to work twice as hard as Scunthorpe.

“We had quite a few chances to have added to Jaime’s goal, but then they hit us on the break a few times in the final 15 minutes.

“As individuals and as a group we must go out against Reading and show much more in the opening 45 minutes.

“We bounced back last season after we let ourselves down and we did the same against Cardiff this season after losing to Queens Park Rangers.

“But what we want is consistency

“Saturday was a reality check, but we have enough experience in the squad to deal with situations in what is likely to be another proper Championship game.”