BLUES striker Pablo Counago admits he is finding it hard to enjoy his football after a season of under achievement at Portman Road.The Spaniard is in his second spell at Portman Road after helping them to top six finishes the last time he was there but has yet to get near the play-offs this time round.

Derek Davis

By Derek Davis

BLUES striker Pablo Counago admits he is finding it hard to enjoy his football after a season of under achievement at Portman Road.

The Spaniard is in his second spell at Portman Road after helping them to top six finishes the last time he was there but has yet to get near the play-offs this time round.

Counago said: “I'm not really enjoying it. It is difficult to enjoy your football when the team is not doing well and we are not in the position we wanted to be at the beginning of the season.

“It is difficult to enjoy playing in that situation but you have to accept football is like that sometimes.

“We have to keep trying and working hard and not give up.”

After finishing in eighth place and a point outside the play-off places last year, Counago accepts better was expected this time round.

Counago said: “We have under achieved this season. Like everyone we expected to do well this season. We came close last season to making the play-offs and everyone expected us to be there this season because we have more money, more players and a bigger and better squad than last season.

“It is disappointing for the players, the staff, the club, the Press and the fans as well.

“Probably the most important thing is for the fans to be happy and they have an expectation to be at least in the top six.

“It is frustrating for them and for the players.”

But the former Celta Vigo striker pointed out that even though manager Jim Magilton has had �12m to spend and three years in charge, Town had no God-given right to be promoted.

He said: “Just because that is what we all expected it doesn't always mean that it will happen.

“Chelsea have spent millions upon millions and they are expected to win the Champions League but it has not happened.

“We have to keep trying again next season. We must not think it will never happen. We have to learn from our mistakes this season and not do them next season.”

The reason for failure according to the wily 29-year-old, who has 55 goals for the club, is down to one main reason.

He said: “We have to be more consistent. We know we have good players and have a good team that can play good football but we have to do it every week. If we can't do it every week then we need to do it in more games than not.

“Maybe if we had done this or changed that but you can explain things after game but you never know before the game what will happen. You need luck at times. Sometimes we have won and the other team deserve more and the other way.

“It is a long season so it is not about one or two games but over the whole season.”

Counago would have liked to have weighed in with more goals than the nine he has managed in 21 league starts this season but believes it is the collective that is more important.

He said: “I always try and do the best I can but it is not about me and how many goals I score. Of course I would like to score more goals and when the team is not 100 per cent right I am a part of that.

“I'm on nine goals and of course I want to score as many as possible but the point is not if I score, eight, 12 or 14, it is about where the team is. I would be happy if the club was in fourth place and I only scored four goals, rather than if I had scored 12 goals and we were in 12th position.

“We are all disappointed for the team first and then for the person.

“If the team is not in the play-offs it is about all our mistakes.”

The popular Spaniard has another two years at his current Town contract and there is little doubt he will be here at the start of the new season, which he hopes to enjoy a lot more.

derek.davis@eadt.co.uk