Town boss Mick McCarthy felt his side should have claimed all three points from their 1-1 home draw with Blackburn Rovers. The visitors scored from a late freekick but McCarthy believes the Blues ought to have been awarded a penalty in the dying seconds when David McGoldrick was fouled by Lee Williamson.

“Bollocks, that’s the quote for you, that’s just exactly what I said,” McCarthy said afterwards.

Did he have any complaints regarding the freekick from which the visitors scored their goal?

“Not really,” he admitted. “I could see why he gave it, I have to be honest and I could see why he sent [Matt Kilgallon] off as well because the first one was a blatant professional foul.

“The second one, I think it’s a genuine attempt for the ball, but he doesn’t get the ball and he makes the referee make his decision.

“It was a wonderful freekick by us, a wonderful freekick by them. We had enough chances, we’ve hit the post, we had one off the line, Didz has had a one-v-one and the keeper made a good save.

“We really should have put it to bed and we gave the ball away twice. We gave it away in their 18-yard box once, we gave it away in the middle of park, they put it on top of us, they got a freekick, which is just what they wanted, a corner or a freekick, and they benefited from it.

“But we just kept them interested. And yet, at the end of all that, we should have had a penalty in the last seconds.

“It’s a penalty but I don’t think for one minute he was ever going to give it at that stage, I think he’d had enough badgering at that stage from all parties.

“I waited to come off, I didn’t go and say anything to the referee. I’m not into berating the refs. Just have a look at it, it should have been a penalty.

“I shook his hand, what’s the point [of arguing], he’s not going to change his mind. He might get the hump and book me just for saying it.”

McCarthy says his Blackburn opposite number also thought it should have been a spotkick: “I’ve just spoken to Gary, he didn’t see the penalty differently.”

He added: “I thought the first half was pretty ordinary and there weren’t many chances. Gestede took Tommy on and got a good shot in, they got a cross in.

“We had a good cross and half a chance. There was nothing really in the first half. In the second half we were the dominant team, with or without 10 men.

“After they were reduced to 10 men we had our chances. I don’t blame Gary for saying [they deserved the draw], fair dos, they stuck at it and if you’ve got 10 men and you stick at it, you think they’ve deserved something. But we could have been home and hosed.”

Having dropped four points in the final moments of the last two games, McCarthy says they now need to pick them up elsewhere.

“I’m not coming in here moaning about my team or how we’ve been playing recently,” he said. “I think we owe each other four points. We owe the club four points, so we’re going to have to get them somewhere else.

“But it’s another point in my pocket, you can’t take it off me, it’s on the table. We might end up in the play-offs by one point and then look back and say ‘That was the point’. It’s the tally you end up with at the end of the season, I don’t get wrapped up in all that nonsense.

“I think we should have gone on and won that game, but fair play to them, fair play to Gary’s team, they stuck at it. They kept going and they got a great freekick, a great goal. I can’t do anything about it.”

McCarthy confirmed that skipper Luke Chambers missed the game through illness - a bug has been going round the club - and is a doubt for Tuesday’s game at Cardiff.

Luke Hyam won’t be involved due to a hamstring problem but better news is that Daryl Murphy could be back: “He tells me he’s training on Monday, so if he is there’s every chance he’ll play [on Tuesday].”

Blackburn manager Gary Bowyer believed his team deserved the point: “We got our just desserts, we thoroughly deserved it.”

Regarding the red card, the Rovers boss felt referee James Adcock should have penalised Conor Sammon: “It was a foul on Matt Kilgallon and [the referee] can’t wait to send him off.”

Did he think the earlier incident in which Kilgallon was shown his first yellow card had some bearing on the referee’s decision?

“Look how long it took him to consult and then he made the decision that it was a yellow card,” Bowyer continued.

“And then in the second one, he doesn’t even consult. If he thought that the first one was wrong, he shouldn’t then make that decision on the second to correct the first, if he thought it was wrong.

“But I didn’t think it was wrong, I thought the first one was correct because there were players who were covering.

“That’s something that we’ll have to take up with the referees’ association.

"Unfortunately, the lad suffers an injustice but we can’t appeal that. If it was a straight red we could have appealed it and then they would have seen after the game that it’s a foul on Matt Kilgallon and we would have won our appeal.

“But because it’s two yellows we can’t appeal. How crazy is that? Yet the decision is still wrong. That’s something for them to look at.”

He added: “But I’d rather talk about the spirit and the character and the never-say-die attitude of a such a young group going down to 10 men. Phenomenal.

“I thought we were good value in the first half, their goalkeeper’s made the save of the game from Rudy Gestede and we really stuck at it and we just felt that there was something there for us today before the game and certainly at the end it was a magnificent freekick.

“If those two freekicks were in the Premier League they’d be shown over and over again. They were of outstanding quality.”

Photo: Action Images

Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 05:51 - Oct 19 Let's take the point and move on. Tuesday night is going to be a big test, and I fear the worst, especially if we can't put out our very strongest team (not sure what that is any more, actually, as we have at least two viable midfields). My dear wife is from Cardiff (or thereabouts). Luckily she's not a football fan, so domestic harmony will hopefully continue, whatever the result.

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battyblue added 06:13 - Oct 19 No choice but to take a point now Steve but still disappointed we seem incapable of playing out the game for all the points still obviously no lesson learned from Notts Forrest.
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jonbull88 added 07:23 - Oct 19 Hahaha! Itfc realist....Taylor premiership class, hunt abysmal today, just shows you weren't there today and you never have seen Taylor play, hunt was everywhere, getting stuck in, running at people, very unlucky not to score, as I do believe it was his shot blocked off the line. Taylor imo has NEVER shown that display ever at itfc. Taylor is an average championship player at best, he didn't fit in at pr, he didnt set the world alight here and as far as I know about him there but I was under the impression he hadn't scored yet, even Sammon has scored this season.

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Fat_Boy_Tim added 08:16 - Oct 19 For some odd reason it feels worse to get a point having played well and been caught out at the end than it does to play awfully and sneek a point at the end. Well that's on the night anyway. Today I know what team's position I'd rather be in. We were the better side throughout (Even if MM thinks it was an even first half), our pace, passing, harrasing and work rate were streets ahead of Blackburn. We got caught out by a soft free kick from a desperate long ball and a cracking set piece finish. Before that we should have put the game to bed but if you have a 1 goal lead you are at risk. Not bothered by what Bowyer has to say, he's under pressure and fighting for his job, good luck to him considering the erratic owners. It's now about 12 and a half hours of football since we conceeded an open play goal. Amazing stat that and if we keep playing like this we will be in the playoffs. Overall I'm dissapointed by the result but still massively encouraged by the performance, 3 points on Tuesday will be hard work but if we keep playing well there's every chance.

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superkevinwilson added 08:56 - Oct 19 It realist and pip what utter #icks bet neither of you was at the game today. Johnny is twice a player of Taylor. If Taylor is prem class why was he only on the bench for Rotherham.
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Dozzells_Bobblehat added 09:30 - Oct 19 ITFCRealist- so a Rotherham sub is better than Williams?? That shows your knowledge of football for what it is. Two points dropped today without a doubt, but I think it's more a problem with the players on the pitch than thWhichever it it is nges that were made, I was watching MM and TC and they were telling the players to go forward with the ball. Whichever it is we need to address it quickly. Other than that things are looking good though, we really do look like a team these days.

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blueboy1981 added 11:02 - Oct 19 ...... 'We were the better team throughout' - 'Blackburn were poor' - 'Referee was rubbish' - heard and seen this all before. Fact is, Blackburn went back home with the same amount of points from this game as us - let's not keep 'trawling' for excuses - AND GET THE OBVIOUS PROBLEM SORTED. Then we perhaps we can start talking about the play offs / top two - SERIOUSLY. Until then - forget it.

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blueboy1981 added 11:04 - Oct 19 ..... omit the 'first' we - slip of the finger !
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whosroundisitanyway added 11:38 - Oct 19 We have the second best home form in the division. Only Watford sitting in top spot have better, so will all you whingeing idiots just give it a rest!!! Oh, & I love the ones that that start with "I wasn't at the game today but....." If you're not there you are not in a position to give an informed opinion so dont bother.
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Razor added 12:31 - Oct 19 OK-this may ruffle a few feathers but here goes. I have watched footy for over 50 years and I was always told that if the opposition are down to ten men you attack them harder and stretch them and play the game in their half. So Henshall (remember him) should have been brought on to do just that. When I saw Tabby come on my heart dropped and I knew we were playing with fire. The inevitable happenned, Hunt lost the ball in midfield,again,( why was he still on the pitch?) and then we get a shocking decision from an abyysmal referee and hey presto its 1-1. We should never have been in this position,sweating on a free kick in the last minute. Management dictate the style and way we play and they shoul take full responsibility. Some positives though, Salmon a good second half and much more involved, Gerks came off his line in the six yard box and cleared a dangerous cross very competently and Skuse excellent and read the game so well Micky Mac is right, we are owed 4 points and strangely enough I can see us winning at Cardiff, we have a good record there and with the right attitude and spirit we can do the job. See you there.

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GerkensBeard added 12:55 - Oct 19 Obviously disappointed with the result but no as gutted as I thought I would be. We were streaks ahead of Blackburn, and we look one of the best teams in that league without a doubt, we are now playing the ball along the deck. Bru was excellent!! What a gem he has turned out to be and has surely nailed down a start for Tuesday. At end of the day you can't take anything away from Ben marshalls fre kick, there was only one place he could put that ball and he did. It just didn't seem to want to go in the net for that second goal so it was just one of them days, all teams have them. That is the most undeserved point I have seen tho that Blackburn got. But not too bothered because we look like top 6/ top 2 all day long. 8 games unbeaten, but if we lose Tuesday it will be seen as 3 points from the last 12 I guarantee you. Would probably be more pissed off if we're 7th

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JWM added 12:57 - Oct 19 No surprise to see all the moaners..Sorry I meant realists.. spouting their usual negative.. Sorry I mean realistic ... Drivel on here again!
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oldegold added 13:26 - Oct 19 I see PIP50 has been hung, drawn and quartered but let's face it chaps ...he's right. Until MM changes his defensive mentality then we are simply not going to get out of the Championship. How many times have we shut up shop and allowed the opposition to come at us, inviting danger? Yesterday was a case in point: up against 10 men, totally in command,what does MM DO? Revert to his defensive style as usual and they equalize, Should never have happened.Teams like Leicester last season and Watford and Nottm Forest this time around go for the kill and finish off the opposition.What does MM do?Everyone behind the ball........please!!! Yesterday we were in command and an attacking team would have won 3-0. PIP50 is spot on.. . The record over the last few years shows that only teams that have aa attcking style take it by storm

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blueboy1981 added 16:52 - Oct 19 JWM ......... I had hopes once that you too had become a 'realist' - signs were encouraging. Sadly you've slipped back into the low expectancy, excuse searching / making traits, again. When we are as near as we have been recently, with the acknowledged improvement - excuses and pi*s poor tactics and concentration, can and do, make all the difference - as we have seen over the last couple of games or so. Time to get it right - and achieve that extra yard.

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blueboy1981 added 16:55 - Oct 19 oldegold .......... spot on mate. No unbiased sane mind can deny it.
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roytheboy added 18:02 - Oct 19 The best defence is attack !
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oldegold added 18:11 - Oct 19 Me and blueboy1981 are probably in that current minority that believe that we are not"progressing" nicely but not making the most of the gilt-edged chances coming our way to accumulate points but then throw away games because of players having to get behind the ball instead of scoring more goals. Maybe so but I think we are still a little off the pace and at season's end, we are not going to make the play-offs but rue this defensive fragility of protecting our leads killing off the opposition. We all want the same thing i.e promotion but I do not think we will make it with this style of defensive soccer, We need to be more gung-ho and be risk-takers otherwise we will come up short come May next year.

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GerkensBeard added 18:15 - Oct 19 Don't actually think we sat back at all in the last 10, I thought finally were still creating opportunities in the last minutes even though we are winning, we were playing possession football whether that be along the back 4 or not and still created opportunities in the closing stages. Blackburn didnt have one serious attack in that last 10. Just an excellent set piece from Marshall. People will do everything they can to blame MM, 2 years next month he has transformed the club into what is clearly a top 6 side with hardly any cash spent. Also that was a very attacking team and we are playing attacking football along the deck which is far better than what we witnessed at the start of the season. I think a front 5 of Bru, Williams, Hunt, Sammon, McGoldrick is pretty attacking, and when fit hunt and Sammon should be replaced with Stewart and Murphy. Now that is an attacking side and we are playing attacking football. Laughable how fans will do anything they can to pin the blame on MM when it's an individual error of a foul from Berra and a fantastic free kick from Marshall. Other than Blackburn never looked like scoring.

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stormypetrel added 19:10 - Oct 19 ...will we look back on the season and think that tactics cost us a play off place or will we think tactics cost us a play off final place....either way MM's tactics with this group of players, will as ever, prove to be divisive for the faithful
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PJH added 19:30 - Oct 19 It has been a very frustrating six weeks or so for the anti MM section and some of them have not appeared on here at all for a while.A few do from time to time make comments and sometimes they are even quite sensible comments, equally some are so ridiculous as to be idiotic.I am sure there are some that are longing for the day that we actually lose a game so that they can spring into print. Whilst yesterday can only be seen as two points dropped the last few weeks have been very encouraging and there is no reason to suppose that we cannot be in the current position or better at season end.

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roytheboy added 20:33 - Oct 19 Three points Tuesday COYB
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Cheshire_Blue added 11:48 - Oct 20 As has already been said, tactics cost us this game, but not MM's tactics. If the numbskulls in the Sir Bobby Robson stand had not held on to the ball instead of returning it promptly, maybe there would have been only 2 added minutes and not 4!
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