Blues boss Mick McCarthy was delighted with his side’s 1-0 victory over Leicester but admitted that he was relieved that it was over. Leicester manager Nigel Pearson was unhappy with a couple of off the ball incidents involving his skipper Wes Morgan, who subsequently made an error for the vital goal.

McCarthy said: “I’m delighted and relieved and glad it’s over, I have to be honest. It was a real well-organised, gutsy performance. We defended well. All the things that [Foxes assistant manager] Craig Shakespeare said in his interview on Thursday, that you know what to expect from a Mick McCarthy team.

“Someone asked me whether I took it as a compliment and I do when they defend and work as hard as they did today. It was good.

“We weren’t the best team by any stretch of the imagination, but we’ve got a clean sheet and when it was required we had that bit of composure, that bit of brilliance from David McGoldrick to get the winner.”

Pearson admitted his team weren’t at their best but was unhappy with a couple of incidents: “We did have some great chances but unfortunately we weren’t at our best today.

"But I think we still had enough chances to get something out of the game. But, of course, there were other incidents which had an effect on the result.”

Asked whether Morgan should have kept his composure, he added: “Do you not think that the incidents off the ball contributed to that?

“You can write whatever you want,” he continued. “But as far as I’m concerned my captain has been fantastic for us this year and all you have to do is have a look at the two incidents.

“I’m not a sour grapes person because I think Mick’s doing a really good job here and I don’t want it to turn into me looking for excuses, but unfortunately today there were a couple of very unsavoury incidents off the ball which have possibly contributed to what’s happened.

“The officials have a difficult job, but I’ve seen his position and I think it’s appropriate for people to ask the right questions.

“I’m not going to come in here and make excuses, but I think it could have contributed to what happened afterwards.”

Pearson thought his skipper was caught by Blues sub Murphy shortly after he came on at a throw-in: “He got booked for complaining about somebody elbowing him in the face. I think everyone can see that.

“And Chopra kicked him off the ball just prior to that. It’s unfortunate that I’m talking about things like that rather than football. But that’s life.

“The officials have got their job to do and all I’ll say is that I’ve seen the incidents again and it’s unfortunate that they weren’t dealt with and I can understand Wes feeling a bit hard done to about that.

“All in all it was a bit of a scrappy game, we’ve had our chances, we haven’t taken them and it’s a disappointing result for us.”

McCarthy believes that Morgan had been rattled prior to the Murphy incident: “First and foremost I think he blocked Chopra, ran across in front of him and there was a tangle of legs. Whether Chops caught him or not, I don’t know, but that upset the applecart a bit.

“I think Chops jumped with his arm up at a corner kick and didn’t make contact. But that would be the last of my worries if I was playing against Chops, I’d be kicking the sh--- out of him all over the place. I’d be worried about him putting the ball in the net.

“That all got a little bit fractious and I thought there were lots of things, I thought there were some pushes in our box at the end and I’m screaming for fouls, they’re screaming for fouls, there were words between us, only just the usual, all that intellectual intelligent stuff that goes on in the dug-out.”

A central defender in his playing days, McCarthy believes those sorts of situations come with the territory: “I think the reality is as a centre-half you have to keep your composure because that’s what people do.

“As a centre-half I went out with the sole intention of upsetting the two f---ers I was playing against and anyone else that came anywhere near me.

“And when you’re playing against Mick Harford and Tony Cunningham and people like that, their sole intention is to smash me across the nose and upset me. And it’s the one that gets upset less and whoever made the mistake at the end of the game, and he did.

“So, while all that’s going on, boot it out, have a clean sheet. I’ve no sympathy with Nigel and I’ve no sympathy with the player because it ends up in the back of the net.

“If it was my centre-half I’d be saying so and he probably will be, although he’ll come in here and say something different. If it was Tommy Smith or Chambo I’d say ‘You let him upset you, you let that little s--- upset you and it’s cost us the game’. And that is the case. That is what happened.”

McCarthy had praise for sub Murphy, who created the goal for McGoldrick: “Murph’s been great. He’s been unlucky because I’ve had him in the team, out of the team and he’s remained focused and trained well and positive with his attitude. It’s nice for him.”

The Blues boss was pleased with his goalscorer, who is unavailable for Tuesday’s game at his parent side Nottingham Forest: “It was a lovely finish. I took Chops off and left David on as he can’t play on Tuesday night and I need Chops to go again on Tuesday night.

“I think he’s been excellent, he’s played really well. There, you’ve got one striker for Tuesday, Michael Chopra, he’ll be playing.”

Overall, The Town manager thought it had been a feisty encounter: “We started well, we got the crowd going, it was quite an open game. The pitch wasn’t the best but there were good challenges, good blocks, good tackles, it was a good aggressive game.

“You’d expect that from Mick McCarthy and Nigel Pearson, to be fair, because he was no shrinking violet himself, let me tell you. He wouldn’t have let Chopra upset him.”

Photo: Action Images

itfchorry added 21:11 - Mar 2 Nigel Pearson - What game were you watching ? Your so callead leader on th field begged to have his name taken - Many thanks as it handed us all 3 points - Regards to Mr Nugent - COYB
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bobble added 21:28 - Mar 2 we are going to make it
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oioihardy added 21:43 - Mar 2 If im honest I wasnt sure about Murphy coming back again , but today made my mind up that we should get him on afull contract , because when he got dropped to the bench , he still gives everything for town, and set up the goal today , Mick sign him up !
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bluemikey100 added 21:45 - Mar 2 NO NUGENT = WIN = 3 POINTS
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KiwiBlue2 added 21:54 - Mar 2 Great result ......... even Keane would have been pleased to see our lads mixing it in the physical stakes and giving a bit more than they got with no one being sent off. Agree with oioihardy's comments about Murphy who is showing the right sort of attitude, another clean sheet also very good lets keep the roll on at Forest.....
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PSGBlue added 22:00 - Mar 2 Best thing about today apart from the three points was the commitment shown by the players. The last ten minutes was played in the Town end with our lads throwing themselves at everything to hang on to the win. This would never have happened under Keane or Jewell. Even Chopra is now starting to put himself about, got back well at times today to play his part. Massive game today, if we had lost I believe we would have lost at Forest and Peterbrough too. But that result has put belief back into the players and the fans. As Mick Mills says three winds and a draw and MM can start building for next year. Well done all round today!

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htb added 22:24 - Mar 2 I really do hope at some point we can add a bit of style to our play, but I am liking the fact for the first time in years we are becoming a club that the opposition will not look forward to playing. Was glad to see jet back in the squad, I think he can be one of the players that can bring some flair and quality.
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brittaniaman added 23:36 - Mar 2 Great 3pts today !!! But please tell me what has happened to our lovely pitch???? It was once upon a time the proud prize of the league ??? but now looks very drab !!!!!
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BrettenhamBlue added 23:41 - Mar 2 Vital win today against an inform team. Onwards and Upwards. Really pleased.
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brockleyblueboy added 23:55 - Mar 2 Britanniaman. Good point well made. Can we bring back Big Al Ferguson please. Since he left the pitch has been sh*t. Don't blame the weather, that man lived for that pitch and put his heart and soul into that grass. You could tell before kick off, at half time and after the final whistle he had all the groundsmen looking after it and was meticulous. In regards to the game today so very proud to be a blue. Great game great effort and really pleased. Ok so we weren't pretty at times but you can not fault the commitment, anyone that does was either not at the game or has their head up their arse. Big game on Tuesday, any kind of result will put us in great shape for a huge huge game against Peterborough. Also one last point, how good was the crowd today? Haven't heard an atmosphere like that in a while, well done home support lets keep that up. And again all the moaners out there how about getting to be game and supporting the team. Soooooo Happy. COYB

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martleshamitfc added 00:00 - Mar 3 what is it with peterboro'? they get some fantastic results, then crap ones! tough game at forest midweek, then to London road, what on earth can we expect? a draw will probably be a good result? but who knows what boro' team will turn up?
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h32 added 00:09 - Mar 3 The fact that Ferguson is no longer our Groundsman will tell you much about the current state of our pitch - not at all sure that recommendations were noted at crucial times !! I can remember when we had arguably the 'second best pitch' in the country - an absolute pleasure to go to see the pitch itself - absolute fact. TWTD - believe me. Wonderful memories that never leave you.

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brockleyblueboy added 00:21 - Mar 3 Can we start a campaign to get Alan Fergusn back please??
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BrettenhamBlue added 00:55 - Mar 3 Agree with you martleshamitfc. It is a tad worrying that boro are so up and down. They are a very attack minded team and out for 3 points every game, which could be the reason why they win easily or lose outstandingly. They are now (for the first time in months) looking like they could actually rise out of the bottom 3 so their incentive will be high against us. We really need a win against Forest. An away win now would suck other teams firmly into the relegation battle and take the pressure off us. A draw is not going to be enough. Blackburn, Derby, Millwall, Blackpool, Birmingham, Charlton would all be sucked into the mess at the bottom of the table. MM has done remarkably well so far. Under PJ we would be firmly dead and buried by now given how well Boro, Bristol City, Barnsley etc have played. No goal for Jason Scotland. Finally!

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brittaniaman added 08:43 - Mar 3 When I was talking about the pitch earlier,,, I failed to mention that Alan Ferguson was sitting a few rows behind us in the former Brittania stand !!!!! I would have liked to have known what his thought were of the pitch ???????????
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Tufty added 08:52 - Mar 3 Great win Leicester manager should look at his players conduct off the ball continual pushing and pulling. Grow up man We Won and deserved to COYB
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Wickets added 10:52 - Mar 3 I'm sure Morgan has never kicked anybody on a footie pitch in his life he is always a perfect gent!!!!! What is the saying "what goes round comes round" Great goal from McGoldrick who was probably only on the pitch as he cant play tues so was saved from being subbed, Chopra went off instead. Funny old game.
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Umros added 11:02 - Mar 3 Whatever Pearson, Chopra was so blatantly blocked off by Morgan and had a nibble back, handbags mate and Morgan dropped his purse. Good to see us roughing it up a bit, just what is needed to survive at this level - Need to do same for two away matches, most certainly at the Boro next week.
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Keaneish added 12:20 - Mar 3 Fantastic result and performance. Had a feeling we'd beat them based on nothing other than a feeling. I also have a feeing we'll record our first double over Forest Tuesday night. Thought the back 4 (with the exception of Chamber's wayward back pass!) were excellent and the front 2 showed what a lot of us have thought, that they are going to be a great pairing. Pleased for Murph, sign him at the end of the season. Though Martin put in a great shift too. Only negatives for me were Edwards inability to just whip the ball in and N'Daw first half. Mick clearly rattled him at half time and it worked. Edwards should take note of Gallagher's delivery. When he came on for Leicester, his deliveries were top notch and caused lots of problems. Great result and we arguably had the better of the chances over all too. I agree with the comments about the pitch. Looked OK from the side but on TV looked as bad as Hull's and they play rugby on it!!

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dford7 added 12:51 - Mar 3 I agree with MM, and i saw both 'incidents differently to Pearson. Chopra got clattered before the 'raised' arm tangle, and we had a few elbows in the face on the same wing (opposite the dugout) at different times. One of their players (cant remember which would jump with his elbow out every time. Great result, we deserved it for our second half effort, even if we rode a luck a couple of times with missed Leicester efforts. Months ago we would have let in a equaliser.

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wrighty_blue97 added 12:52 - Mar 3 Good old mick telling it just like it is, this is the kind of manager that will get us places. If only we had of sacked jewell earlier we could be knocking on the door for the playoffs by now, but there we are. All looks good for next season, up the town! BIGMICKSBLUEARMYYYYY!!!!!
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MathieandMarshall added 12:48 - Mar 4 Havent felt that excited at a goal being scored for a long time. Probably Tamas V Arsenal! - massive 3 points! Agree with some others that the Midfield needs some work but the back 4 look solid - what a difference to earlier in the season. Still a job to do but i think we will be ok. Interested to see how Mick strengthens in the Summer. COYB!
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