IPSWICH star Alex Bruce today took boss Jim Magilton's relegation warning on board.The 22-year-old defender admitted: “The table doesn't lie but we are still looking to move up not down.

By Mel Henderson

IPSWICH star Alex Bruce today took boss Jim Magilton's relegation warning on board.

The 22-year-old defender admitted: “The table doesn't lie but we are still looking to move up not down.”

Bruce will line up against Burnley tomorrow as Town look to end a miserable week with the win they need to convince themselves and their fans that better times lie ahead.

Bruce looked back on the last-gasp defeats at Barnsley and Derby and said: “There is no worse feeling in the world than losing and when it happens in the dying seconds it makes it that much worse to bear.

“We are playing reasonably well but we know we can do a lot better.

“We have shown it on occasions - against Norwich and Coventry for example - but our Achilles heel is our lack of consistency.

“It's as if somebody up there doesn't like us but we know that it's individual errors from players, myself included, that have been the problem.

“Lapses in concentration can prove fatal and we have to eradicate that part of our game sooner rather than later.”

While Town's disciplinary record remains in the spotlight, Bruce is delighted to have avoided a yellow card in his last few outings.

He has already served a one-game ban and with nine bookings to his name is just one away from a two-game suspension.

He said: “Some of the bookings were getting a bit beyond a joke and hopefully I've addressed that problem and tried to keep out of trouble.

“The main thing is to get a win against Burnley that will hopefully send us on the sort of run to take us up the table in the same way that other teams have done.

“We are not disregarding what the gaffer said about facing a relegation fight unless our form improves.

“We know that if we lose more games than we win we are not going to be in a healthy league position.

“We need to turn that corner, win games and put points on the board and we will go out with all guns blazing against Burnley to try to make it happen.

“There are no worries about playing at home. Some teams get a bit edgy in case the fans turn on them but the support we have received all season tells me the supporters are right behind us, willing us on.

“We just need to find the form that got us good results in other games and then try to maintain it from one game to the next.”

SQUADS

IPSWICH: Price, Bruce, De Vos, Naylor, Richards, Williams, Garvan, Legwinski, Roberts, Lee, Clarke, Wilnis, Sito, Peters, Haynes, Macken and Supple.

BURNLEY: Jensen, Sinclair, Foster, Thomas, Duff, Harley, Jones, Hyde, J O'Connor, McCann, Noel-Williams, Gray, McGreal, Elliott, Mahon, Lafferty and Coyne.

Referee: Keith Hill (Royston).