Freddie Sears admitted performance levels in recent months ‘haven’t been anywhere near good enough’ after Ipswich Town’s play-off hopes took yet another blow.

Yesterday's 2-1 defeat at Blackpool means the Blues are now on a run of just one win in their last seven games, with their poor form dating back to the middle of October (P23 W6 D7 L10).

That slide has left them five points adrift of sixth spot heading into back-to-back home games with promotion chasing Fleetwood and Coventry, with Sears admitting his side need to turn things around quickly if they are to have any chance of pushing their way into the promotion fight.

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"If you're a decent team you're top of the league," Sears said. "We're doing alright but it's not good enough at the minute.

"We have to win as many games as we can. I keep hearing about the play-offs or the top two but we have to start winning games, that's the reality.

"It's tough to say what's going wrong. I said a few weeks ago that if we get to May and look back at things and we're not in the play-offs or where we want to be then it will be a season wasted in my opinion.

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"We don't want to be looking back and thinking about what could have been or what would have been because the last three or four months haven't been anywhere near the levels good enough for Ipswich Town."

Though yesterday's game ended in defeat, there were positives for Sears on a personal note, including a first 90 minutes in the league in over a year and a first Ipswich Town goal in nearly 14 months as he converted Will Keane's cross to equalise at Bloomfield Road.

"It's obviously great to play 90 minutes and to score but the other side of it is that we lost the game so it doesn't feel like too much at the minute.

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"For me personally it's another one ticked off but now it's about getting results.

"I've been ready for a while now and I've been training well but it was just about getting the opportunity. The opportunity's come up and I've taken it and scored a good goal.

"We played well but didn't take our chances with goals going in the other net, so we have to defend better. It's disappointing at the minute."

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Sears admits he could have done better with a late chance when put through one-on-one, with Blackpool scoring their winner within 30 seconds of his shot being saved.

"Yeah, it's a good chance and it's the different between winning and losing," he said. "I feel like I could have let the boys down but at the same time we should never have conceded that goal either.

"Keepers are pulling off good saves so we're not missing the target on purpose or hitting it miles over the bar or anything like that, you just need that bit of luck sometimes and it's not happening for us."