Jay Emmanuel-Thomas: "My head was in a bad place"

Ipswich Town attacker Jay Emmanuel-Thomas has confessed that he had negative attitude towards his game earlier this year.

The 22-year-old found himself out of manager Mick McCarthy's plans following a poor performance during a second-string match against Charlton Athletic in January.

He has since played his way back into McCarthy's team, but the former Arsenal trainee has conceded that his "head was in a bad place" for a number of weeks.

"My head was in a bad place during the Charlton game. I played in the game and I scored but it did not really mean anything," he told the East Anglian Daily Times.

"I knew after the game I had not done myself justice and it wasn't like I thought, 'If I play well and score I am going to start the next game', I just had one of those moments that young boys can have and I didn't focus at all.

"After that game, I had a conversation with Mick McCarthy and I apologised and since then, I have been getting back to the levels I was at before."

Emmanuel-Thomas joined Ipswich from the Gunners in 2011.