It should have been a cruise, Gaardsoe

By Dave Allard

THOMAS Gaardsoe today summed up Ipswich Town's disappointing home 2-2 draw with lowly Brighton on Saturday when he said: "We should have cruised through and won comfortably."

The Danish central defender went on: "Once again we have slipped up against a lesser side and it is so disappointing. We had so much possession. But, in a way, it worked against us."

Gaardsoe, whose team drop back to five points off the play-off zone in the Nationwide Division One, explained: "Sometimes having so much possession can work against you and I feel that was the case in this game.

"We were getting so many people forward at times that often Richard Naylor and I were a bit isolated in the middle of the defence. We pushed forward in numbers to try and get another win but in a way it worked against us."

Joe Royle's side made it eight games without defeat, but once again the Portman Road faithful had a disappointing Saturday result.

This Brighton share of the spoils comes after dropped points against other lowly weekend visitors in Grimsby, 2-2, and Stoke, 0-0.

Blues fans in the 26,078 crowd were desperately hoping to see their side achieve three straight wins to add to the 2-0 at Sheffield Wednesday the previous Saturday that was followed by last Tuesday night's 3-1 home success over Reading.

But it was not to be, on a day when second half substitute Darren Bent missed a penalty.

"It was another setback for us at home. But we will keep battling. We still believe we can make the play-offs. We may have dropped two points, but our heads are still up and the spirit high," added Gaardsoe.

Marcus Bent gave Town and 20th minute lead with an eighth goal of the season. Tony Rougier struck for the visitors from Sussex in the 66th and 80th minutes to give the Seagulls the advantage.

Martijn Reuser levelled for Town with his first goal of the season six minutes from the end of normal time.