Sindre Walle Egeli volleyed the Blues in front in the 37th minute after Marcelino Nunez’s free-kick had deflected up off the wall.
Then George Hirst doubled the lead in the 77th minute following on from Jack Clarke’s shot spinning out to Jacob Greaves on the left.
Christian Walton went on to save a late penalty from Tom Ince to preserve Ipswich’s clean sheet, victory lifting morale after Saturday’s 5-3 defeat at Wrexham and cutting the gap on second-place Middlesbrough to six points with two games in hand to come.
“It was a game of two halves,” said Still, after suffering his first defeat as Hornets boss.
“I was very disappointed with our lack of aggression in the first half. We didn’t execute the pressing triggers we wanted and were much more passive than we wanted to be. Despite that, actually, we haven’t conceded that many big chances in the first half.
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“We were lower than what we wanted to be, but we conceded nearly nothing in that first half, apart from the free-kick and, honestly, I don’t know in what world that’s a free-kick against Mattie Pollock. It just isn’t. That was my instinct on the side of the pitch and having seen it again now, it just isn’t a free-kick. It’s disappointing to concede off a rebound on that.
“Second half we’ve come out much better. We were much more aggressive, as we intended to be, which put them under pressure and made it difficult for them. We had a really good spell for 20/25 minutes at the beginning of the second half where we should have got something. We just needed to be a little bit more clinical in the final third to create a chance or two more than what we did.
“Then we’re unlucky on the break for the second goal. It’s a moment of hesitation in the box, they’ve got a good bounce and you end up losing 2-0.
“It’s strange because it feels like the game’s got away from us a little bit on a couple of unlucky bounces. Having looked at the shot count, the shots are equal. A lot of the post-match stats are very even. There was definitely room for us to get something out of the game.”
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