Ipswich Town skipper Luke Chambers feels that the Blues were in contention to advance to the playoff final until a second-half sending off against Norwich City.

Ipswich Town captain Luke Chambers has revealed that he believed his side would beat arch-rivals Norwich City in this afternoon's Championship playoff semi-final.

In what was arguably the biggest East Anglian derby of all time, Norwich won 3-1 on the day for a 4-2 aggregate victory to set up a final against Middlesbrough at Wembley a week on Monday.

Ipswich matched their opponents for much of the tie, but, soon after half time in today's game, they unravelled as Norwich won a penalty that resulted in Chambers's fellow defender Christophe Berra being sent off for a blatant handball on the goalline.

Speaking to the Green'Un after the match, Chambers said: "It's my sixth playoff and I have yet to make a final and that makes it even more disappointing; I thought it would be different this year.

"I thought we would win the game and make the final, that was my true belief, and I think the boys thought that too, and I had no reason to believe any different until the penalty.

"I would say they have had the rub of the green today but they haven't, it's a penalty, and we shouldn't be giving the ball away where we did. That made us vulnerable to the players they have got, players with quality who they have spent a lot of money on."

Ipswich are the Championship's longest current servants and will have a 14th consecutive season in the second tier next term.