Smith played in all three of New Zealand's World Cup games this year

Ipswich Town defender Tommy Smith admits he is perplexed by his side's recent slump in the league.

Town have lost their last three outings in the Championship to drop to 14th in the table.

Smith, 20, told BBC Radio Suffolk: "It's strange, I don't think we've been performing badly.

"I think we've been performing as well as at the beginning of the season when we were getting results. Maybe we haven't had a bit of luck lately."

The season had started brightly for Roy Keane's men, who had been as high as third after being undefeated in their first five league games.

But they have taken just four points from the 18 available in their last six outings and supporters are beginning to show signs of frustration.

606: DEBATE This time last year we were still searching for our first win, and only had about 6-8 points flyingipswich4life

"Every team in the Championship is under pressure, a lot of the teams are similar in quality," Smith added.

"You look at the squads around the Championship and there's only perhaps Cardiff that stand out as having the next level of players.

"It comes down to effort, attitude and luck at the end of the day."

The return of centre-half Damien Delaney has seen Smith switched to left-back in recent weeks.

The New Zealand international, who has played in central defence for the majority of the campaign, admits he is having to make some adjustments.

"As a full-back you're expected to get forward and put in crosses and that's a part of my game I have to work on if I'm going to be playing full-back more prominently," he said.

"Throughout the games I've been getting forward more. I'm sure if I play more games there I'll get more and more confident in my ability to go forward and produce."

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