TE: Over big parts of the game, it was an outstanding performance from the boys. In these games, you’re not going to have a lot of moments.

You know that you will always get a couple. I think we had a very big one in the first half with Leo Scienza; it’s a very tight offside decision.

And then we had a couple in the second half. If you want to or not, they’re going to push you down there, so you have to defend a little bit deeper.

We had a look at how they scored their goals this season, and there aren’t too many goals from outside of the box. Unfortunately, it was two today.

Are you satisfied that you have done the club and fans proud?

TE: I think that we’ve done absolutely everything to represent this football club in the best way possible today. We wanted to give the supporters a final.

We were very close, so it’s quite natural that there’s a good sense of disappointment straight after the game, but we have a big week coming up.

There’s going to be a test of maturity for us to put this game together as quickly as possible because we need another top performance on Tuesday.

When that Azaz goal went in, you must have thought you might win?

TE: These games are never over, if you see and you look at the record of City over the last few years, all of their games in April and May.

There aren’t too many that they give away at this part of the season, so we knew that those 10 minutes after scoring would become very long.

I think that we’ve defended very well over big, big spells, and then it speaks for itself that it’s two goals from outside of the box to win the game.

Defending seemed a whole team effort, did that limit your attack?

TE: Yeah. When you see their line-up and they don’t have a clear target player up top, you try to use some moments where you press them a bit higher.

Because they don’t have a natural outlet then to just play into. Compliment to City in the way they set up, it’s not so easy to then press high.

It’s not too many moments that they give you to push further up the pitch and then you need to be careful that you don’t commit too many players.

I think that’s always the balance then in those moments, and I think we found a very good balance today. That’s what it is against those teams.

The game is always decided by small margins.

Was that some of the best play we have seen from Jander at Saints?

TE: Well, I think at this stage of the season, he’s only getting better and better. I think that speaks for him.

Obviously, it’s not always easy when you play your first season in England with the amount of games and the amount of minutes that you cover.

It’s good that he’s peaking at this very moment of the season because it’ll be very important for us for the next run of games.

Why is he so technically good at winning the ball back?

TE: You need to ask him how he does it.

Can this boost your team despite the end of an unbeaten run?

TE: Yeah, like every other game, we will try to take all of the positives and move them on to the games that come up.

However, in the end, the hard reality of football is that you get some praise and you get some applause, but tomorrow no one cares; that’s the reality.

We need to put the game to bed as quickly as possible, take the positives from it and move on.

What will the impact of this game be on the players physically?

TE: Let’s see. We will assess tomorrow, the boys are coming in for recovery, then we will see how they are. We will make some decisions for Tuesday.

We dive into Ipswich a bit more throughout the day tomorrow, and then I’m sure that we have a very good team on the pitch that is ready to perform.

Are you likely to have any players who are unavailable to play?

TE: Let’s see, it’s tough to say straight after the game, the boys all look good at this moment. Exhausted, because they left everything out there.

Then we assess tomorrow, and we will take it from there.

Why did you have unavailable players travel with you?

TE: Well, Ryan [Manning] and Flynn [Downes] obviously knew they couldn’t play, and with Jack [Stephens] it wasn’t so clear.

In the end, he couldn’t make it with his calf. But they asked at the beginning of the week already that they want to be part of this.

It just shows their character, how supportive they are, and it’s going to be very, very important for the next few weeks coming up.

How difficult was preparing for this with Tuesday also in mind?

TE: I think we’ve had this challenge for a few weeks now. It’s not the first time that we’ve come up with a decision for a similar challenge.

I think if you start to create momentum as a team and as a group, I think that you need to do everything to win games of football.

That sometimes gives you more energy than trying to save a player and say five per cent here or there, but it’s relentless at this part of the season.

The approach has always been the same. We try to put the best team out that we think gives us the highest chances of winning a game of football.

That’s not going to change.