David Cuffley Jamie Cureton faced up to the bitter disappointment of Norwich City's derby defeat and its wider implications when he admitted: “We're still not out of trouble.

David Cuffley

Jamie Cureton faced up to the bitter disappointment of Norwich City's derby defeat and its wider implications when he admitted: “We're still not out of trouble.”

The Canaries' 2-1 defeat by Ipswich Town at Portman Road yesterday left them 16th in the Coca-Cola Championship, four points above the final relegation place with three matches to play.

Striker Cureton, captain for the day after Mark Fotheringham was ruled out with a neck injury, said City had let down their 2,000-plus travelling fans.

“We've got to wake up in the morning and deal with it all and the boys aren't happy,” he said. “We're very disappointed with ourselves, performance wise, individually and as a team. We've let a lot of people down as well as ourselves and we know how badly these defeats are taken.”

Victory would almost certainly have secured Championship safety for City, and Ched Evans' fourth-minute goal gave them the perfect start before they were rocked by an Alex Pearce own goal and a winner from former Norwich triallist Danny Haynes.

Cureton said City still had work to do before they were safe.

“We thought maybe a win could put it to bed, and that's another reason we're disappointed - we're still not out if it,” he said.

“We've still kept ourselves in touch with people below us and that's the last thing we want, to keep going game by game because the pressure keeps mounting and you keep looking over your shoulder.

“We wanted this out of the way so we could look forward to next season and at the moment we can't do that. We need people to step up and put in big performances in the next three games and get us results that keep this team and this club performing in the Championship.”

Cureton was used in a wide-right role for more than an hour as manager Glenn Roeder revamped his formation in Fotheringham's absence, but he was one of many who struggled to make an impact.

Said Cureton: “We didn't really perform. I think we have to hold our hands up today. I think Ipswich were the better side. We weren't really at the races, even though we started as well as we could have hoped. We went one up and we went very sloppy and open, rather than keep it tight and keep them out of the way and let the fans turn a bit.

“We gave them a boost straightaway by letting them the score too early. The momentum kicked in with them and after that I don't think we really coped with it.

“We didn't create anything, didn't really pass it well. It was just a bad day all round.

“You couldn't have asked for anything more when you come away from home than to score early, especially at Ipswich. But we didn't even build on a 1-0 start.

“After that we just tried to cling on and tried different things. But nothing came off, the passing was very poor all round, we didn't create chances. It's as bad as we've played in a long time and it's very, very disappointing it's come against our rivals. It's the last place where you want to put in a performance like that.

“It's bad enough when you do it anywhere, but to do it here is doubly disappointing.”

After a long dressing room inquest, he said: “There was no shouting, just speaking about things that went on today and trying to put it right. Today there was a hell of a lot to talk about it.”