IPSWICH TOWN: Blues manager Roy Keane admits that pressure is building after a third consecutive defeat at Hull City on Saturday.

Town fans were right behind their manager and team at the KC Stadium, but Keane is aware that many others are rapidly showing signs of losing faith.

Keane said: “If you can’t keep losing the pressure builds, and then the next game becomes a must-win game.

“Pressure builds from within, and we’re all disappointed at this moment.

“The visit to Norwich on Sunday is a game we want to win because we know that we’re dropping down the league.

“Despite me talking a good game, you have to go out and do the business, and we haven’t done that.

“So that pressure builds and it will be a long week, because we’ve had another defeat.”

Looking back on the 1-0 defeat at the weekend, Keane went on: “The result was a bit harsh, but that’s the way things are going at the moment.

“The goal was a deflection, and I thought there was probably a foul before that. And I‘m certainly not happy with two penalty decisions that went against us.

“There was a foul on Tommy at a free kick, and a foul on Connor Wickham late on, but that’s life.”

And explaining why he reverted back to the 4-1-4-1 system that served his team so well earlier in the season, Keane said:

“We’ve been giving away bad goals in the last few weeks, and the priority should always be, no matter what game you’re in, that you be solid and difficult to break down.

“We’ve been very open recently so we wanted to have a look at that.

“It probably looked like it had 0-0 written all over it, and going away from home you would have taken that. But it’s another difficult one to take.

“Our effort was fine, although we could have done with a little more composure in the final ball, which is vital to win any game.”

Tom Eastman and David Norris will be having treatment this week with Keane adding: “Tom has a groin injury, but he’s played a lot of games for us over the last month or two, and he’ll be struggling now because he was limping pretty badly.

“David came off and he has ice on his ankle, but hopefully that’s just a precaution.”

Hull manager Nigel Pearson thought only one side was trying to win Saturday’s game.

Speaking after Hull’s first home win in the Championship since September 14 he said: “Ipswich set up to try to get a draw. They’ve had a difficult run and set up to be solid and they knew we had been a little bit fragile at home.

“We deserved to win although there was a bit of anxiety out there.”