Coventry City manager Frank Lampard felt the 4-1 scoreline didn't reflect how competitive his side were against Ipswich Town.

After George Hirst's second minute penalty gave Town the lead, the hosts quickly levelled through Joel Latibeaudiere's header at a corner and were on top for a spell.

Jack Clarke's brace gave Ipswich a two-goal margin, but the Sky Blues looked like they might find a way back into the game before Jaden Philogene's killer fourth.

"I thought the performance was okay, I thought it was a competitive game against a Premier League team," said Lampard.

“I think we probably edged possession. Chances we probably edged. Their chances, predominantly, came from errors from us, which is disappointing. Other than that, I don't think the scoreline reflects the game. It's just the reality for us.

"If you take the goals out of it - which we can't, obviously - you can look at the game and say there was some good stuff from us. We come out in the second half pushing and have a goal disallowed.

"Probably the clinical nature of them at the top end of the pitch compared to us is a bit different. Other than that, there's not so much I can complain about really."

The former Chelsea and England star continued: "I think there's a lot of context to this game. Ipswich were fantastic last year and then go and bring a lot of players in to compete in the Premier League. The other context is they played last weekend and will play next weekend, while we played Wednesday night and will play again on Tuesday night.

"We had to rest a couple of players today through fatigue to keep people fresh and had a couple out, so in terms of the squad we're stretched a bit at the moment."

He added: "Clarke's second goal is a bit of individual skill. Could we do a little a bit better? Possibly, yeah. The third goal is our mistake to gift it to them and that, obviously, mentally is a difficult thing to overcome.

"But the lads kept trying and trying. There were crosses, corners, the goal gets disallowed.

"They were a team who were really strong in this league last year and are now competing in the Prem. I didn't see that difference in the game, personally, other than the scoreline. Again, I'm not stupid, that's the reality of it.

"Leeds (a 2-0 home loss on Wednesday night) was a different game. We were beaten by Leeds. This game doesn't feel like that to me.

"We must look at the errors, because some of them I really don't like, but also look at lots of the positives we can take forward.

"Players now have to go again, and I have to lead that, because what I've seen today is not a team who wilted to a Premier League team. They kept competing all the way."