Town boss Mick McCarthy felt the “magnificent” Tommy Smith had no apology to make, despite his error leading to Derby’s goal in their 1-0 victory over the Blues at Portman Road. Chris Martin seized on Smith’s 57th minute mistake to win the points for the Rams.

“They’ve got a good side and the reality is that it probably should have ended up 0-0 but we’ve made a mistake and it’s cost us,” McCarthy said.

“That’s ended up being the difference between the two teams, from somebody who has been magnificent.

“Tommy came in and apologised, there’s no apology needed, get over it, we all make mistakes.

“Maybe the conditions had a bit to do with it, blowing and he couldn’t get a head on it and diverted it [into Martin’s path]. Once we let it bounce there was trouble then.

“But I thought the game was going nowhere, it was a nothing game, no spectacle by any stretch of the imagination. We made a mistake and somebody’s capitalised on it.”

Smith also apologised to fans on Twitter: "That one mistake cost us. Sorry."

The Town boss was adamant his team ought to have been awarded a spotkick when Jay Tabb’s cross hit Richard Keogh’s arm just before the goal: “I know you’ve asked Steve and he said it was never a penalty. I think I’m going to lend him these [holding up his glasses]. I don’t understand after the game has gone.

“He’s got his arm out here and it’s a penalty. Well, I think it’s a penalty, but it’s obviously not because the referee hasn’t given it.”

He also felt John Eustace - red-carded in injury time - ought to have been dismissed after his clash with David McGoldrick just before half-time.

“Likewise I asked the referee [Kevin Wright] at half-time and he said he thought it was an accidental collision,” McCarthy added.

“I have to tell you I committed some accidental collisions in my career. I waited to see, it’s violent conduct from the side, he’s come in and barged him.

“That might have changed the game, it might have ended 0-0, lots of stuff might have happened as well.

“What even irked me more was that Didz then rolled over and tangled his legs with him, whether or not that was on purpose, and he got booked and we lost an opportunity to break on them.

“I found that very strange, actually, it was a clear barge from the side. Had he been booked already? He would have had to go off. It was a foul.”

Overall, he thought there was little between the teams: “A draw would probably have been a fair result. I don’t think there was a lot in it.

“They did have a mature away performance, as Steve has said, they’ve not conceded a goal so I think it was a mature performance.

“I think they maybe shaded bits of it and had some better opportunities than we did, but they didn’t score from any of them and neither did we and it’s a mistake which has changed the game ultimately.”

He felt the game suffered from its big build-up: “Maybe, it was a bit of an occasion here. We’ve been doing all right and we’ve been talking all week about it, it’s built the game up.

“Maybe neither team performed as well as they could. But they’re the away side, they don’t have to force the issue and they’ve nicked a goal through a mistake and if it was me I’d be saying exactly the same as Steve, that it was a really good away performance.”

He says Cole Skuse is in with a chance of facing Southampton in the FA Cup on Wednesday: “Possibly, he was poorly, Skusey.

“We didn’t know whether he’d be all right today but he wasn’t, he was actually a little bit worse. I don’t know, might be, might not be. No new injuries, to my knowledge.”

Derby manager Steve McClaren felt it was his team’s best away display for a while: “For a long, long time. This was a tough place to come, we knew that from last year and it was what I call a mature performance. That maturity of knowing how to win these games.

“Sometimes we’ve been a little bit naive, sometimes we’ve not got the result through our naivety but today we stood up, we were men, we stood up to the physical challenge, the directness and defended very well as a team and played when we had to.

“After the first 10 or 15 minutes we grew into the game. I think Will Hughes was a big part of that. Out of all the frenetic and frantic play and what was going on he was the one who got his foot on the ball and created that calmness.

“So, for me, it was a performance that we’ve been looking for from the team and we got it today.”

The ex-England boss dismissed Town’s penalty claim: “I’ve seen it on the replay and it wasn’t a penalty, he pulled his arm away to avoid it. There was no deflection or anything.

“I thought the referee was excellent today, even though he sent off John Eustace. I thought his handling of a difficult game was very good.

“I think he got every decision more or less right. Mick will probably disagree, but from our point of view I thought he was excellent.”

Photo: Action Images

Warkys_Tash added 18:26 - Jan 10 Just a bad day at the office, still didn't think Derby offered much 2nd half (they retained the ball well in the first) & a draw would have been about right with more chances falling to us & a potential shout for a pen. Dust ace should also have gone first half. But he your country cousins got lucky & did us a favour.
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Hegansheroes added 18:27 - Jan 10 Utter bolloxks from MM
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yorksblue added 18:27 - Jan 10 Fully agree. It was a nothing game. Lots of aimless hoof balling and poor passing and players not at the races. Now it's over let's respond positively on Wed and more importantly next Saturday by nailing Millwall.
2

yorksblue added 18:28 - Jan 10 Fully agree. It was a nothing game. Lots of aimless hoof balling and poor passing and players not at the races. Now it's over let's respond positively on Wed and more importantly next Saturday by nailing Millwall.
3

itfc77 added 18:38 - Jan 10 Having seen the replays it wasn't a pen, his arm was out but it has to hit his arm not his chest. The turning point was obviously the 'McGoldrick' incident, the intial foul is by Eustace, reaction or not from Didz it is at the very least a booking each, but to give to free kick their way to is a proper kick to nethers. Take it in the chin, bounce back and go again. COYB

3

StowTractorBoy added 19:49 - Jan 10 Unfortunately we let Derby off the hook in the first 15 minutes when we had them on the back foot and Tabb should have scored from 12 yards out with only the keeper to beat but sadly he fluffed the chance. I don't think I need to comment further on the Referee but his past performances at Portman Road mirrored this one. Derby reminded me very much of Ipswich Town they work extremely hard have an excellent back line and unfortunately a regular goal scorer in Martin. There was little between the sides and today Derby got the breaks but they are a very good side and will be in the mix at the end of the season. Not too bothered about the FA Cup and will be nice to beat Southampton but I'll swap it for a win at Millwall.

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Palestine added 21:31 - Jan 10 As has been said above - endless tv replays and you still couldn't see that it hit his arm, so for me it looked like no pen, so I'm not going to criticise the ref for that. However the cynical but v clever body check on Didz...that probably should've been a 2nd yellow but he did make it look accidental. Derby more than physically competed with us..I was impressed by that. Gutting to lose from such a mistake (2nd in 2 games) as a draw probably a fair result, but the game confirmed my view that Derby are a better footballing side. We didn't really have enough about us. We look good for top-6, (maybe top 4, but not sure about top 2 - and that's without losing one of our 2 strikers. Hunt and Sammon seem like woeful back up. Don't think either would get near Derby's team.... A postiive - Mings looked bright going forward.

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2_Goal added 22:51 - Jan 10 Tough game with two decent championship sides. For me though, Derby were the better team. Their midfield dominated ours, and our young-guns Bishop and Hyam didn't quite have enough about them today. Would have preferred 3 in the centre, to allow Bish to get forward. 0-0 would have been a great result. On a plus side, McGoldrick was excellent - looked back to his best. And Berra strong as ever.

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BlueIrish added 02:58 - Jan 11 We didn't look as composed on the ball as Derby and ended up playing too much hoof-ball which was frustrating at times. 4-3-3 would have probably suited us earlier in the game. Positives - Berra, Mings, McGoldrick Roll on Saints !
1

battyblue added 11:10 - Jan 11 Steve McClaren 1 Mick McCarthy 0 sums t up.
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