Ipswich Town boss Mick McCarthy felt his team played well in this afternoon’s 1-0 Championship defeat at Bristol City.

East Anglian Daily Times: Jordan Spence heads over the bar at Bristol City late in the first half Picture PagepixJordan Spence heads over the bar at Bristol City late in the first half Picture Pagepix (Image: Pagepix Ltd 07976 935738)

A stooping 64th minute header from substitute Milan Djuric proved the difference in a closely-contested game of few chances, played amidst swirling wind and snow.

Asked if he felt his team had deserved more, McCarthy said: “Yes, I do. We certainly shouldn’t have lost it anyway.

“We haven’t had as much of the ball as them, but we’ve had as many chances as them – probably more actually, if the truth be known. But it’s the one that goes in the net that counts.

“They didn’t get too many crosses in the box, but we got overloaded on that side on that occasion. I think Adam (Webster) has tried to stop him (Djuric) when he should have tried to attack it and he’s beaten him to it.”

Town have now gone three games without finding the net and have scored just 10 in their last 17 across all competitions.

MORE: Stu says – Five observations following Town’s 1-0 loss at Ashton Gate

“It’s quite clearly not happening for us in that respect, but we’ve created chances and we’ve played well today,” insisted McCarthy. “We’re just not scoring at the minute. There’s not much we can do about that expect just keep going and keep trying to put it in the net.

“I’m not bemoaning my luck. Somebody has got to be running and moving in the box to get on the end of things. We work on that, TC (assistant boss Terry Connor) works on it constantly, so it’s not just down to luck. Maybe somebody needs to take a chance – certainly with Callum (Connolly)’s header across the box and Jonas (Knudsen) striking one across the box. You’ve got to have someone moving and getting on top of it.”

Asked if his players were lacking confidence in front of goal, the Blues boss snapped: “Did it look like it today? Did it look like it? Did anyone fluff their lines in front of goal? Did anybody miss a really easy chance or look like they’d panicked?

MORE: Match report – Bristol City 1 Ipswich Town 0

“I think we’ve had a real confident display today but just not managed to score.

“They’ve put the big fella on. What was he a quarter of a million? He’s got a bit of pedigree and he’s managed to find the net. “I thought it was a good goal on their part. That’s the difference.”

He added: “We played Skusey a bit deeper with Callum and (Grant) Ward as two central midfield players. I thought Wardy played well to be quite honest.

“You could see when they scored how much it meant because I don’t think they thought they were going to score and it didn’t look like they would.

“We’ve been well-organised and disciplined and done that side of things, but I thought we played well too and created chances.”