Royle confident of making up ground

By Elvin King

IPSWICH Town manager Joe Royle switched the emphasis to tomorrow's game at Preston within minutes of Saturday's 1-1 Championship draw against Millwall.

He said: “We needed to beat the Londoners, but if we can take the points at Preston we will make up for that.

“Against Millwall our best players were all in defence and you shouldn't be asking your defenders to be the star men when you need to win home games.”

Royle was as mystified as anyone why such a good start failed to lead to three points against the Lions.

He added: “We began so well and should have gone on to a convincing victory.

“We scored but then didn't have another shot for 30 minutes. We over-passed on a pitch not conducive to passing football. I want my players to pass the ball but in the opposition half.

“Millwall are playing better than their position suggests. They are not one of the worst three sides in the league.

“I warned everyone not to be taken in by our short odds and what people were expecting.

“I give maximum marks to the referee, but the equalising goal followed what should have been a free-kick to us, following a call by a Millwall player that the referee never heard.”

Millwall boss David Tuttle was pleased with his side's display. He said: “It was a fantastic performance.

“We started slowly and Ipswich were on top for ten minutes, but after that we coped very well and maybe deserved more than a point.”

Former Ipswich keeper Andy Marshall was singled out for special praise after saving from Danny Haynes.

“Andy made a great save in the second half, but that's what he's paid to do. We were on top at that stage so it would have been unfair if we had gone 2-0 down.”

Tuttle said that his club will try to appeal against Tony Craig's second yellow card for time-wasting in injury time.

He said: “I took the ball from Zak Whitbread and threw it to Tony to take the throw. I can't see how it can be Tony's fault.”