We Had Chances, Says Martin

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We Had Chances, Says Martin

Russell Martin felt we gave a good account of ourselves despite the frustration of a Carabao Cup defeat to Ipswich Town.

2026-08-26T08:00+01:00

by Sam Jones

Published

7 Hours 47 Mins Ago

We Had Chances, Says Martin

Russell Martin felt we gave a good account of ourselves despite the frustration of a Carabao Cup defeat to Ipswich Town.

Sam Jones

2026-08-26T08:00+01:00

We Had Chances, Says Martin

Russell Martin felt we gave a good account of ourselves despite the frustration of a Carabao Cup defeat to Ipswich Town.

Sam Jones

2026-08-26T08:00+01:00

We Had Chances, Says Martin

Russell Martin felt we gave a good account of ourselves despite the frustration of a Carabao Cup defeat to Ipswich Town.

Sam Jones

2026-08-26T08:00+01:00

We Had Chances, Says Martin

Russell Martin felt we gave a good account of ourselves despite the frustration of a Carabao Cup defeat to Ipswich Town.

Sam Jones

2026-08-26T08:00+01:00

Russell Martin gave his take on our Carabao Cup Second Round defeat
We were beaten 3-1 by Premier League Ipswich Town at Portman Road
Young defender Olabade Aluko scored his first City goal in the reverse

The Foxes were beaten 3-1 at Portman Road, with Olabade Aluko scoring his first senior goal to cancel out Sindre Walle Egeli’s opener, before an impressive Marcelino Núñez brace late on saw the Tractor Boys progress into the third round.

In his assessment of a spirited display at Portman Road, our Manager was pleased with the way City played with the ball, and fought without it, creating several opportunities prior to the Premier League outfit showing their quality in the final third.

“I’m disappointed we lose, because I don’t think we deserve to,” he said following full-time on Tuesday evening. “We were the better team tonight, I think, that’s my feeling. We had more shots, we had some big chances and we get done by two moments of real quality with the two goals outside of the box.

“The second one is a bit of a mistake from us with guys that are really tired but the team was so brave and so aggressive tonight. We played some amazing football, cut them open a lot, were aggressive on the press and should have created more in the first half when we regained the ball, because we did it a lot. We hunted the ball, so I loved it tonight.”

Seven changes were made from the side which lost out to Burton Albion in Sky Bet League One at the weekend and Martin felt those who came into the XI took their chance with both hands, impressing in the way they performed away to a top-flight outfit.

The display was also appreciated by the travelling Blue Army, who showed their support throughout the contest and after the final whistle.

He continued: “[We had] a lot of young guys, some playing out of position – Luke Thomas, Bade [Aluko] has not played there a lot at centre half. They were immense. Jakub [Stolarczyk] came in and was so brave with the ball. Christian [McFarlane’s] first game, Couli (Woyo Couliably) is the same and put in a really good performance.

“The two young guys from Brighton (Tommy Watson and Harry Howell) were magnificent. Now we have a headache with some selections, which is brilliant. I enjoyed the performance tonight and I’m so proud of them.

Photo 1/22

Imagery from Portman Road as the Foxes took on the Tractor Boys in the Carabao Cup.

“I’m really grateful to the supporters that were here, making that trip on a Tuesday night. They were immense, even when we went behind and amazing at the end. The reception they gave the players, it felt like they enjoyed the performance. I hope they felt proud of the amount of young guys we had on the pitch and how brave they were.

“There were some tired guys at the end and we kept going. At 2-1, I thought we were going to score and then obviously they go and get the third goal. We asked Jak to be aggressive and high and it’s a moment of real quality of a guy they spent millions and millions of pounds on.”

As attention turns back to league matters, Martin is keen to turn the positives from Ipswich into getting points on the board, with a trip to MK Dons up next this Saturday.

“I don’t like losing, I hate it and there are some really glum faces in there, but I can accept that performance every time,” the 40-year-old added. “We have to back it up now and it has to be meaningful tonight. It has to be a point in the season that we look back on.

“We’re only in the third game, it’s so early, but this was the night we started looking how we wanted to in a competitive fixture. We had so many guys on the pitch tonight who have not played together before, but they are building.

“There are so many guys who have not been in the building for very long and so many who are so young. I was super proud of the whole team. They played with big courage tonight and we’re going to need that. Now we have to back it up and make sure it counts on Saturday.

“We have to have an identity and play with an energy, passion, desire and bravery with the ball and without it. Tonight the guys brought both and we’re playing against a Premier League team with lots of good players and we have guys who have not played for a while. If we play like that, with that level, we’re going to have a lot of fun and win a lot of games.

“I’m not happy we lost we but have to put it in the context of how we played and what we did. For that, there’s so much to build on and so much to enjoy and hopefully the players have a feeling of what is going to come with time, because we need some time and moments that we are going to have together.”

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