Joe Royle admitted he was far from devastated after watching his Ipswich Town side tumble out of the FA Cup.

The Blues can now concentrate on their Coca-Cola Championship promotion quest and Royle said: "We never like losing, especially on our own pitch, but we've got a more important game next week against Coventry.

"I'd never be disrespectful to the FA Cup, because it's the oldest and most prestigious competition in the world.

"We would have loved to progress but I'm not devastated to lose. In fact, it's a hard call as to whether I'd rather have lost or drawn, because the last thing I wanted was a replay."

Royle admitted classy finishing was the difference between the sides and said: "There was nothing in it for an hour.

"We probably had better chances but they took advantage of theirs, which is maybe the difference between the Premiership and Championship.

"The difference between good and bad is taking advantage of your chances and scoring goals.

"We changed our system and brought on an extra forward for a midfielder, so really went for it. But it wasn't to be and they scored three good goals on the breakaway.

"Premiership football is all about playing on the counter-attack and they did that very well, even if 3-1 was slightly harsh on us."

Published Tuesday, January 11, 2005

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