Town boss Mick McCarthy was pleased with the Blues’ second away point in the week and felt that the 1-1 draw with Sheffield Wednesday was a fair result.

“I’m delighted with the point,” he said. “I thought we were excellent in the first half and I think we’ve had to show a different side to us in the second half in terms of defending and being tougher and resolute.

“And especially on the back of the second half on Tuesday I thought we were terrific and defended well.

“That was always going to be a question mark on the back of Tuesday; going out in the second half and having to defend, and I thought we were excellent.

“Because of Tuesday’s result, being three goals in front and then conceding. But there was no hangover, they were all prepared to do it.

“It was a one-off that, it happens and it did on Tuesday, but they deserved it because they played well. And I think today I think we were the better side in the first half and probably Sheffield Wednesday shaded the second.”

Both sides had further chances with Cole Skuse hitting the woodwork for the Blues in the first half and Jermaine Johnson for the Owls in the second.

“If, buts and maybes,” McCarthy added. “If we scored to go 2-1 up, who knows what happens. It would have silenced the crowd because we were playing well.

“Likewise, if they’d scored it probably would have ended 2-1 to them. But ours was considerably earlier and it would have changed the course of the game completely. But it didn’t and I’m delighted with a point.”

Regarding Michail Antonio’s equaliser two minutes after Paul Anderson’s 12th minute opener for the Blues, the Town boss wasn’t too harsh on his defenders.

“Let me tell you, [Adthe Nuhiu] is 6ft 6in tall, so I might have struggled to win the header against him, I think we got crossed over in the box.

“We maybe could have stopped the cross but somebody that big is difficult to deal with. Maybe we could have done better but we didn’t and that’s what we’ve got. But what is nice that we didn’t concede any more.

“I thought we were the better side in the first half, we played really well, I was delighted with us. In the second half I thought they improved and we’ve had to defend, so they’ll be happy with their second half performance.”

Owls boss Dave Jones agreed: “I think they had the first and we had the second. They hit the post, we hit the bar.

“It probably took us a long time to get going and, as I’ve said before, we’re trying to get four players fit within the games programme.

“We always knew that three games in a week for some of them, certainly the ones that haven’t played a for a long time, was always going to be a tall ask, but I thought Stephen McPhail got through it well enough and Roger Johnson.

“Matty Fryatt’s thighs and hamstrings are screaming but we thought it was worth the gamble to play him to try and get him over that. I think if we’d have had a fit, sharp Matty, then he scores just before half-time.

“But I think a point was a fair assessment. They probably did have the better of the first half and we certainly had the better of the second.”

Photo: Action Images

Mark added 23:28 - Oct 5 > 4 words to sort the defence out. Richard Stearman, Stephen Henderson. Henderson has gone on loan to Bournemouth. If you bring Stearman in, do you drop Chambers? Very harsh on the man, who is one of our best characters and not his fault he has been played at right back. I expect we will see Hewitt return if we get an injury to one of Smith, Berra or Chambers.
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Walk_the_Wark added 23:36 - Oct 5 McCarthy's plying for mid-table. And it seems we're all happy for that?? "better than last season" may be....
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thebeat added 23:49 - Oct 5 Of course we dont drop Chambers we drop Berra and put the best centre half pairing in the league after xmas last season back together.And it doesnt matter that Hendersons at Bournemouth, McGoldrick was on loan at Coventry when we took him.
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ArnieM added 23:52 - Oct 5 Pip is definitely a scummer. So ignord the little tw-t
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bluelodgeblue added 09:14 - Oct 6 Still say this is a season of consolidation and not celebration. Once MM/TC know where they need to strengthen for a major push then that's when we go for pro! Lets face it if we were to get into the top 6 at the end of this season getting promotion to the PL would scare the pants off me. We are not ready yet!
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yorksblue added 09:45 - Oct 6 There's no way we should be pleased with a point. We sat back for some strange reason and encouraged wed to come at us when we should have buried them. . Only 1 footballing team vs a bunch of useless hoof merchants. Even my wed mates couldn't understand our approach.
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Hegansheroes added 10:23 - Oct 6 Could not agree more with Pip50 apart from bringing Keane back. I really hope Ireland come in for McCarthy & he goes. Gaelic football is more akin to what Ipswich are playing, but not as boring. As for MM's dry sense of humour-the Chugerckle Brothers are hilarious compared to him. Looking back was Jim Magilton really such a bad manager? Taylor may have personal issues but he is a really good player but I doubt he has any future at Ipswich under McCarthy and I wonder about Wordsworth as well. Obviously Nouble has a big future under MM. I doubt he would get in many Div 2 teams in reality. Please Mick apply for the Ireland job

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Michael11 added 10:34 - Oct 6 @thebeat Here's 6 words to ruin half of your genius plan. 'Stephen Henderson has signed for Bournemouth'.
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thebeat added 10:45 - Oct 6 Michael11 Henderson is only on loan. like i said above McGoldrick was on loan at Coventry when we took him. Loans can be broken. Honestly i give up
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goat_man added 12:38 - Oct 6 I'm honestly not too unhappy with the point yesterday. I'm way more angry with the point on Tuesday, when we squandered a 3 goal lead in 45 mins. Yesterday was two poor sides who dragged each other down to each others level. In years gone by we would have lost these matches in the last minute and therefore we are improving.
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billlm added 13:45 - Oct 6 il get ripped but mm is tactically inept this week away from home has shown that
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Keaneish added 15:11 - Oct 6 I'd quite happily take a point at every away game this season. As long as we're averaging just over 2 from home games too we'll make top 8.
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kalypso added 15:21 - Oct 6 Well said @keano.
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BillBlue added 16:55 - Oct 6 “That was always going to be a question mark on the back of Tuesday; going out in the second half and having to defend, and I thought we were excellent. Because of Tuesday's result, being three goals in front and then conceding. But there was no hangover, they were all prepared to do it." Defending he is talking about so I think that says it all! Mick, may I make a humble suggestion in that if you want to defend then put Smith and Chambers back at the heart of the defence because one thing is certain the present set up is not working and, oh yes, get a goalkeeper.

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BillBlue added 17:10 - Oct 6 Hegansheroes. I agree the only thing Pip got wrong was mentioning Keane and I also agree, in total, with your post. Well said.
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johnabruzzi added 21:24 - Oct 6 Pleased with the point???? wednesday looked like a pub team...our forwards should have run there defence ragged. Didzy was lazy...Chambo or tommy need to take him down a couple of pegs after his player of the month award, its gone straight to his head and his arrogance shone through yesterday
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Dozzells_Bobblehat added 21:59 - Oct 6 Keanish - i agree, obviously should have picked up three points at Derby, but any draw away in the Championship is always a decent result. Think some people on here need to live in the real world.
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