Ipswich Town column: Frustration creeping in as mental block continues to hold us back ahead of Sheffield Wednesday acid test

Worrying trends are starting to form at Ipswich Town, lapses of concentration and even question marks over the mentality of the manager and the players.

Saturday’s performance at Cambridge United was simply unacceptable. Kieran McKenna pulled no punches when expressing his disappointment whilst also preserving elements of how he truly felt by stating that his true expression of disappointment stays behind closed doors.

We can all say that we take heart from a battling performance at Burnley, but the harsh reality is that we’ve lost another goal in stoppage time that has potentially cost us a very favourable opportunity to get to a FA Cup quarter-final, and after that who knows what may happen?

If we look around the league, Derby and Sheffield Wednesday seem to have the willpower to put together long unbeaten sequences and we need to do the same.

We have the squad and everything in place to do so, but there seems to be a mental block that has has plagued us for years at this club and results in holding it back.

There is so much good that is going on at the football club, and everything that is being put into place is a far cry from the sad decline that was happening before our eyes.

Frustration is starting to creep in, and whilst it seems that to an extent Mark Ashton off the pitch has done an excellent job overall and Kieran McKenna appeared to be the manager we needed, they cannot be exempt from criticism forever.

We seem to have a bloated squad and McKenna has a juggling act of picking his squad every week that looks to be overstocked in certain positions.

Saturday’s visit of the Owls is now ‘must win’ and there can’t be the same excuses as they will start to wear thin. And whilst so much good has been done off the pitch, another failed attempt at promotion makes it a harder job for Ashton to sell us League One football again.