"We have played well in the circumstances under the weight of not winning a game before tonight so they did well. Hopefully the pressure released in this place will help us settle down. We will do an awful lot better.
"We got glimpses of what Alan Mahon can do and he has such enthusiasm and such talent and we have only seen the tip of iceberg. Georges Santos was arguably man of the match but Richard Naylor was unfortunate not to play."
Royle also had some special words for the supporters, calling them the real stars of the night: "The stars on the night were the fans, who were fantastic to us from the first minute to the last. They were determined there would be no cynicism and stayed with us."
Royle also felt sympathy for Spanish striker Pablo Counago, who again came on, and was denied by super goalkeeping to deny him a chance to open his account for the season: "Pablo must think the goal is cursed for him at the moment. He could have had a hat-trick but the ball won't go in for him. It will come right in the end, though."
Speaking of his sides defeat, Walsall Boss Colin Lee admitted he has no complaints over the penalty: "I have not had any serious complaints from the players, which would indicate the linesman got it right. The penalty stemmed from an unnecessary back pass.
"Then they scored their winner when one of our lads was off the field having stitches in his head. We played with three centre-halves and you would expect one of them to get in there and stop him.
"It was a fairly even game and we had the better of the first half. Ipswich changed things a little in the second half but we were about to change that then Gary Birch got injured.
"Their keeper made a great save from Darren Wrack and if that had gone in we would be talking about a Walsall win."