Boss Mick McCarthy felt the Blues’ 2-2 draw at AFC Bournemouth was a great advert for the Championship. Town came from behind twice to pick up a point which their manager was delighted to have claimed.

“I thought it was a great Championship game, a great advert for the Championship,” he said.

“Neither of us want to be here too much longer but it was a really competitive, high quality Championship game between two good teams.”

He added: “If you get a point away from home it’s a good point wherever you get it. I’d take a point without getting on the bus, it suits me fine.

“I think it’s a really tough, competitive league. We’ve gone to places like Derby and we got a point, Bournemouth we got a point, Nottingham Forest too.

“Really good points and you’re taking home points off those teams. Bournemouth are nailed on, they’ll be in the top six, they’ll be a promotion candidate.”

Yann Kermorgant put the Cherries in front after two minutes and McCarthy says the most important thing having gone behind that early is not to let the opposition score a second.

“I think ‘Right, we’ve conceded, don’t concede another, don’t try and get it back straight away’. Try and be calm, try and be composed.

“They were on fire from the start and having scored they were really on fire and caused a lot of problems.

"But we worked our way back into it and we hit the crossbar a couple of times, the keeper made a save. We had our chances.”

The Town boss was again impressed with Daryl Murphy, who netted his 11th goal of the season to equalise for the second time, having been away with Ireland.

“He’s doing really well,” he added. “He only came back on Thursday, that doesn’t help us really. But another really good performance from him.”

McCarthy was pleased to see his side threaten regularly from set pieces: “You work for ages to try and get in a crossing position. Restarts are good opportunities because you can put one in without anybody stopping it.

“I think you’ll find they make you work from freekicks and corners as well, they have three out at corners.

“We’ve had to work diligently to stop them as well. It’s part of the game. You need good deliveries and you’ve got a chance of scoring.”

The Blues boss was adamant that the referee was right not to award a penalty when Tokelo Rantie went down when challenged by Tommy Smith and Luke Chambers in the second half.

“I’ve seen it, it’s nowhere near a penalty,” he insisted. “Not a chance was it a penalty. I do think it was handball in the last minute [when the ball struck Cole Skuse's arm], though.

“And besides Rantie was about 10 yards offside. The keeper kicked it, he ran back, got the ball and we didn’t get the decision.

“It wasn’t a penalty. You can call me up at the club if you think I’m a liar. I’m not one that sees things through rose-coloured specs. If it was a penalty I’d say it was, but it wasn’t.

“But of course, the crowd are desperate for it, they want to win, they want to get promoted, everybody’s up in arms about it. It should have been offside, there wouldn’t have been any injury, there wouldn’t have been anything.”

Regarding the incident in the second half in which Tyrone Mings exchanged words with a section of home fans, he said: “I don’t know what they were shouting at him, they would have been giving him dog’s abuse I have no doubt because that’s what happens with football crowds and he’s probably reacted to it.

“If we could all just walk away. There but for the grace of God go I. If somebody’s screaming abuse at me, I’m more than likely to react in that way as well.

“He’s a young man, he’s doing exceptionally well. He’s played against a top player today in Matt Ritchie, a really good player. He’s fine, he’s great.”

McCarthy is confident that Bournemouth will be in the promotion shake-up come May: “Without a doubt. It is a nice, homely place but I’m not having that ‘homely little Bournemouth’ issue when you come down here.

“They’ve got a team of hard-nosed pros, I reckon, good footballers, who, by the way, they’ve spent a few quid on as well. And I believe they’re giving them a few quid in wages.

“Andrew Surman’s as good a player as anybody in this league. I think Kermorgant is, I was interested in him. Callum Wilson who they signed looks a really good signing.

“I know they got money in from Adam Lallana’s [sell-on] and Lewis Grabban, but Ritchie they paid money for.

“They are a really good, good team and I think that we’ve had to work damned hard to get a point. All that ‘homely little Bournemouth’. You come down with that approach and you’ll get slapped.

"They’re all as tough and resilient as everybody else. I don’t fall into that trap.”

The Blues manager says Kevin Bru could be out for a month having limped off in the first half: “Kevin’s turned his ankle, he might be a month, Kevin.

“He’s damaged his ankle ligaments. They say it could be two weeks, it could be a month. Let’s say it’s going to be a month and if it’s two weeks that would be great.”

Stephen Hunt missed the trip but McCarthy expects him to be fine for the trip to Charlton: “Hamstring, I think he’ll be all right for next week.”

He says Tyrone Mings, who came off late on, is also a concern for the visit to the Valley: “Tyrone’s got a dead leg, he might be a doubt for next week. But he’s got a week of treatment and we’ll see how he is.”

Christophe Berra will miss the trip having picked up his fifth booking of the season on Saturday.

Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe was convinced that his side should have had a penalty when Rantie - who he revealed had been given oxygen on the pitch after suffering a shoulder injury - went down under pressure from Smith and Chambers.

“I’ve seen it again and it’s a clear-cut penalty,” he said. “He’s looked electric, he stepped onto the pitch, he stepped inside two players and it’s a clear penalty, I can’t understand why the referee hasn’t given it.

“He came in between two players and he’s been brought down by a blue shirt. I’m surprised because the referee is in a decent position, he got a good look at it and I’m very surprised he didn’t point to the spot."

Howe felt his team ought to have claimed all the points: “When you look at it, I think we’ve had some very good chances to add to our lead.

"We made a great start, the lads looked in really good form and we looked like we were going to carry straight on from before the international break.

“Credit to Ipswich, they dug in and I think from their perspective they’ve come away with something from a game when perhaps they didn’t deserve to.

“That’s the Championship for you and that’s the fine margins between the results. I couldn’t be more pleased with my team, I couldn’t be more pleased with the standard of football we played today.

“Our quality in the final third was probably as good as it’s been this season. We opened them up countless times and all that was missing really on the second half performance was taking our chances because we had enough to win the game comfortably.”

Photo: Action Images

MrDiddle added 22:12 - Nov 23 Its a good job MM has built a team of workhorses rather than a group of "superstars". Because of this, everyone is interchangeable, everyone adds something different. I watched the game, and whilst I don't think town played to their full potential (or even half of it) we were able to deal with everything Bournemouth threw at us. My favourite moment in the game was when one of their players was giving Mings some serious jip on the ball, only for Mings to turn round and send the bloke flying with a gentle nudge. Legendary!

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dusth added 22:37 - Nov 23 Howe is a disappointed manager, that's why he's mouthing off. That's the way we like it!
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JWM added 15:54 - Nov 24 The Bournemouth fans can't leave it alone can they! LMFAO! Big chips on such small shoulders! http://www.bournemouth.vitalfootball.co.uk/forum/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=6648
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