The Ipswich Town players were well aware of the fans’ frustrations both during and after Saturday’s 1-0 loss to Rotherham, with Freddie Sears admitting the Portman Road crowd were justified in their criticism.

The Blues were booed off after Leon Best’s goal condemned them to their fifth home loss of the season, with chants of ‘you don’t know what you’re doing’ aimed at manager Mick McCarthy as he walked down the tunnel at full-time.

While Sears accepted the criticism he and his teammates received was probably fair, the striker insisted the players were just as unhappy with their performance.

“As a player you hear everything that goes on and it’s not nice, but you have to get on with it,” Sears said.

“The fans have been brilliant all year here so for them to give us a little bit is fair maybe, we weren’t up to it.

“Hopefully they will be supporting us the next time we’re here.

“The fans are disappointed but we’re disappointed too, we’re not coming off laughing and joking. Everyone’s down in the dressing room and we want to put it right, but there’s nothing we can do about it now.

“We have to wait for the next game.”

That chance to make amends doesn’t come until the visit to Wolves on April 2, due to the international break, and Sears knows the Blues need to come out firing if they are to remain in contention for a play-off place.

“I’d rather be playing Tuesday, that’s the most disappointing thing, because we have two weeks off to mull it over now,” Sears said.

“I’m not sure what needs to change, the gaffer and TC will get us working and there’s a tough lot of games now.

“We have Wolves then the top teams, we have Sheffield Wednesday, Middlesbrough and Derby left to play so it’s going to be tough whatever happens.

“We have to stick together, as players, as a club and just keep going.

“We’re going to have to (come out the international break firing) because we’ll be slipping down the table if we don’t.

“We still believe we can make the play-offs, we want to make the play-offs, and we have to keep that belief.”

The Blues’ best period of Saturday’s game came just after the break, following the introduction of winger Liam Feeney, with Sears admitting a little more width could help Ipswich create more chances.

“We looked better in the second half with a bit more width, first half was a little tight and there wasn’t much width, it was a lot down the middle and that really suited Rotherham,” he said.

“We need to try and create more chances for the strikers, get more balls in the box from the wide men, and we have to keep going.”