Boss Mick McCarthy was delighted with the manner in which Town finally sealed their place in the Championship for 2013/14 by beating Birmingham 3-1 at Portman Road. Carlos Edwards, Luke Chambers and Daryl Murphy netted the goals which took the Blues to 60 points and 11th in the table.

McCarthy says he was happy to have Town’s divisional status confirmed at last: “I’m delighted, really pleased, and the way we managed to seal it the way we did as well.

“We’re not relying on anybody else, it was a really good performance, it couldn’t have been better really. It was a good victory.”

The Blues boss says Town played as well as they have this season: “I think it’s as good as we’ve played and there was still a little bit of pressure on us.

“I didn’t want to get into the situation where if we got beaten and others won, we’d go to Burnley needing something. I’d have hated that.

“I just thought we played with a bit of freedom. And we should have had a penalty. It was a stonewall penalty when Zigic handled it.

“We didn’t get it, then the keeper makes a great save [from Daryl Murphy] at a corner and it looks like it’s going to be one of those days and then Carlos came up with a complete bomb. I don’t know where that came from. Well, I do, he had one at Derby. Terrific.”

The only negative was allowing Chris Burke to net late on for the visitors: “I’m not happy that we didn’t get a clean sheet because we should have done and that’s the kind of stuff that gets you into trouble; letting teams off the hook. That disappoints me, but overall [I’m delighted].

“If someone had said to me in October when I was asked we’d need 60 points to stay up and we’d got seven, I’d have said ‘Do me a favour, forget it, I’m not going anywhere near it’. The league’s just remarkable.”

McCarthy says he’s sorry to see former club Wolves on the verge of crashing into League One: “I had such a good time there. I loved my time there and that was cut short, I thought, we all know the reasons why.

“But, it’s like this place, there are a lot of people who have worked here for years and there are families that work in the club and they’re such lovely, lovely people.

“I went to see every one of them when I left, I knew them all and I feel desperately sorry for a lot of good people because there’ll be major changes if they do get relegated, and they shouldn’t be anywhere near it, not a chance, not with the players they’ve got.”

Would they be in the same sort of trouble had he been manager at Molineux? “Not a chance. Nowhere near it. Absolutely not. They would have been at least in the play-offs.”

Birmingham boss Lee Clark thought his side didn’t help themselves: “I was really frustrated because we contributed to our own downfall by conceding such crazy goals.

“Carlos Edwards’s strike was an unstoppable strike but we gave the ball away so cheaply. Then for the second it was a free header.

“Our decision-making in the first half was very poor. I thought those kind of mistakes had been banished to the past.”

Photo: Action Images

blockb_steward added 22:06 - Apr 27 Great to see the vast majority of Town fans staying to applaud MM and the boys on their lap of honour. What a season, I told my lad today that he had witnessed nothing short of a miracle - what a turnaround. I'm sure he'll never forget it.
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roytheboy added 22:10 - Apr 27 Thank you Mick and very well done.
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Tractastic added 22:39 - Apr 27 Arise sir Mick McCarthy and TC saviour's of our beloved club from a potential meltdown. Some 'canny' summer signings and no reason why we can't be promotion contenders next season. As well as the management well done to the players especially Smith and Chambers who have been awesome this year. Absolutely flying tonight! COYB.
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BuckieBlue added 23:08 - Apr 27 Well done lads for since October...and ME for appointing MM and TC. MM and TC-thank you. Roll on 2013-14!
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MathieandMarshall added 00:44 - Apr 28 Summer has come at the wrong time . Just hope we can roll this form over to next season! Finally a reason to feel optimistic! (And genuinely optimistic, not just Town fan optimistic) Thanks MM and TC for giving us back that hope COYB!
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Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 08:55 - Apr 28 Huge vote of thanks to Mick & Terry for what they have achieved for us this season. I look forward to even better things 2013/14. That doesn't mean that we will have it all our own way; this league is just not like that. As supporters we will need to be patient. There are bound to be valleys as well as the hoped for peaks. But we are (supposedly) aiming for Cat. 1 status for the Academy, the crowds are slowly growing, and at the end of the game yesterday, nearly everyone on the pitch was an ITFC player, not a loanee. In other words, we are slowly getting our club back after several years out in the wildnerness, and that is the best feeling of all.

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bobble added 10:17 - Apr 28 looks like we have spent many years and millions of $ to get back to where we were when magilton was in charge,just shows what a poor executive decision can do in terms of sending a team backwards . surely giving magilton 10 million to spend on a few better players would have got us up already ? the last few years under the dark lord and the shiny one have been a tad pointless if you ask me...... but as i hoped we will win all our last games

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BlueVelvet added 10:28 - Apr 28 Now's the time ME; show MM the money. You have a club currently with momentum upwards (pity the summer break gets in the way of this) and now's the time to consolidate the squad - don't let the fans down ME.
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ArnieMsBigToe added 11:35 - Apr 28 MM & TC are an absolutely marvellous partnership!! I agree with everyone who says ME chose wisely. They are like Batman & Robin. I think Lee Martin will go. I have always thought of him as Forest Gump. Loads of running, but no end product. The only player that RK brought in who was worth anything, was Carlos Edwards. Apart from that, all he ever did was damage.
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oldelsworthyfan added 12:39 - Apr 28 What a way to end the season at Portman Road! MM has done an unbelievably good job. I tust that at this time of his career he will not be tempted away to a, so called, bigger club (remember Bill McGarry who went on to a 'bigger club'.....Wolves....and then into oblivion, before we found Bobby Robson). MM has his head screwed on and we'll keep him. One of his tasks during the Summer is to decide who will stay. Personally, I would like to see the back of Martin and Chopra

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battyblue added 14:47 - Apr 28 Excellent job done with the players MM and TC you turned a crap team into a team capable of reaching the play off positions on current form a team con seeding goals by the bucketful to a clean sheet nearly every game just shows what can be done with a manager and assistant who knows what they are doing..... have a nice rest now Mick we will see you in August with renewed belief in our team many thanks for keeping us in the Championship i thought we were a sure thing for relegation before you came.

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sotd78 added 08:50 - Apr 29 Well don MM and TC....you did a grand job. I might even have to change my avatar if this goes on....
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