IPSWICH Town defender Danny Collins admits some of his tiring team mates could do with a week’s rest.

A youthful and pacy Crystal Palace side ran the Blues ragged at times on Saturday, leaving Portman Road with a fully-deserved 1-0 victory thanks to captain Paddy McCarthy’s second-half goal.

It was the second laborious Town home display in the space of the week, with an energy-sapping six-game unbeaten finally catching up with Paul Jewell’s ageing Championship side.

Thankfully, following three games in eight days, Town now have a week off before travelling to Millwall on Saturday.

“That’s two games in a week where we haven’t played anywhere near our full potential now,” said Collins,

“Maybe one or two of the boys were looking a little bit leggy. The manager certainly told us that we looked tired.

“We were a bit scruffy on the ball I felt. In fact, I don’t remember us stringing four or five good passes together.

“Credit to them though, they caught us on the break. They’ve got pace out wide and they were quite direct.”

Collins, on loan from Stoke until December 10, continued: “We’ve got to pick ourselves up quickly because it’s a tight pack and a couple of back-to-back wins would put us right up there.

“We’ll be ready to go again for Millwall.”

Meanwhile, Collins had sympathy for team mate Aaron Cresswell after his stoppage-time dismissal. The young left-back was shown a second yellow card after making an over-zealous appeal for a penalty.

It means he will miss Saturday’s trip to Millwall – ending his run as the only Town player to start every match this season.

Collins, however, feels the Liverpudlian had a point after getting a good view of the late incident which saw ex-Town man David Wright clash with Grant Leadbitter in the box.

“I think Grant’s got there before the lad, played the ball and he’s gone through the back of him,” said the Stoke loanee.

“You can see the referee has gone to put the whistle towards his mouth but has then realised it’s in the box and thought ‘I can’t give it’.”

Blues boss Paul Jewell said: “He (Cresswell) has done well for us, but it is silly what he has done. It was a little bit of frustration and he’ll learn from it.”