Despite starting strong the home side made several costly defensive errors which they struggled to come back from, allowing Harry Redknapp’s QPR to claim a 3-1 victory.
Ipswich matched the visitors in the opening half but failed to capitalise on their first-half chances and were made to pay when Niko Kranjcar scored seven minutes after the break to give QPR the lead.
Goals from Gary O’Neil followed by Armand Traore saw the points sealed by the 74th minute.
Smith scored in added time with a stunning scissor kick but it proved too little too late to snatch a point.
The Kiwi took to his twitter following the match to say sorry to fans for his part in QPR’s third goal.
“My apologies for their third goal, should have dealt with it a lot better but I fully accept the blame,” he wrote.
“But hopefully managed to put a few smiles back on faces with my goal. I won’t score many better than that, pity it was only a consolation.”
Ipswich Town manager Mick McCarthy was pleased with his side’s first half performance but said they paid the price for easing up in the second spell.
“We were excellent in the first half and should have been ahead at the break,” McCarthy said.
He said both goalkeeper Dean Gerken and Smith had apologised for letting through the second and third goals respectively, but needn’t have.
“Gerks hasn’t got to say sorry for anything, he’s been fantastic. It’s the same with Tommy,” he said.
“He made a mistake for the third and has held his hands up. Again, he’s been terrific for us. He scored a great goal at the end and some people may say it was a consolation but that sounds like we’ve been well beaten. We weren’t.
We let them off in the first-half and we paid the price for that.”
Ipswich Town are currently sitting in ninth position on the English Championship table, with Smith’s All Whites teammates Chris Wood sitting in the lead with Leicester City and Cameron Howieson, who was named Football League’s Apprentice of the Year for January 2013, in second with Burnley.
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