Town boss Mick McCarthy admitted that his team didn’t play well enough to claim all three points from their 0-0 draw at home to Wigan.

“I’m delighted with a point from the game,” he said. “It was a horrible game, neither side played particularly well.

“I think it’s a good point. I’ve just stressed to the lads - whatever it takes. If it takes 75 points to get in the play-offs, we only need another 24 for that. And whatever it takes to win it, we’ve one more to that total.

“I look around and I think Brentford would have been delighted with a point and others would. I’m pleased with a point because we didn’t do well enough to win it.”

He says teams need to grind out points from such scruffy games in order to be successful at any level: “Unless you’re Arsenal or Manchester United or Manchester City or one of the top teams, I think it’s the key to getting results in any division. We’ve not played well.

“I put their team up on the board and I thought Fortune, McClean, Waghorn, Kvist, Huws, I went through their team and I said to the lads, ‘Can anybody tell me that that’s a bottom six team? A bottom three team?’.

“Not in a million years, that team ought to be challenging where we are. They’ve got a new manager in, Malky, and they’ve got potential in that side now. They made it hard for us, really difficult.”

He added: “I’m not one for making excuses. We haven’t played well for whatever reasons. I don’t think the conditions were particularly good. The pitch didn’t hold up well under those conditions.

“It was blowing a gale, it was freezing. I’m not so sure any of us who took part in it were particularly good today.

“But if that was me and I’d come away to a team who were third or fourth at the start of the game and I was Malky, I’d be thinking it was a magnificent performance and that they’d done really well and I would be so proud of my team for having stopped a team who were in the top three or four.”

He says almost every team has a tough patch during even the most successful of seasons: “We all do, maybe the best teams in the league won’t.

"Middlesbrough have had a great result, Bournemouth have, Derby have, arguably the best teams in the league, the three of them.

“Wolves have had bad times, Brentford did and then they’d won 10 out of 13 up until today. We’re not that good that we’re going to win every game.

“And I think we were playing against a good Championship team, a good squad of players. It wasn’t our day, we’ve not played well, we’ve not played well enough to win, so I’ll take the point.”

He admitted that striker Daryl Murphy was missed, but says that was inevitable: “Whoever has got a got a goalscorer who has scored 18 goals wouldn’t they miss him if he wasn’t playing?

“Would you prefer to have him? I would, and that’s not being derogatory to the lads. Didz has come back after being out for two weeks and Hunty’s not really played that much, he’s only had two or three games in the last how ever many months.

“I think anyone would miss Murph’s prowess as a player and his goalscoring ability and his aerial ability. He’ll be all right for Saturday, I hope.”

McCarthy was pleased to see Freddie Sears again make an impact from the bench and felt he might have made more of one of his opportunities but for an incorrect flag.

“He got across the defender on the half-chance,“ he continued. “And he might have done something better when he was given offside when it was their midfielder passed the ball to him, but hey ho.”

Wigan boss Malky Mackay was delighted with the point even if the game wasn’t pretty on the eye: “It doesn’t really matter to me what the neutral might think, it’s what I think of my team’s performance here today, which I thought was terrific.

“We were coming to a team at the very the top of the league, who grind teams down. I’ve watched four games here as a neutral and Ipswich come and do that, they grind you down and then eventually they score and take the three points and they move on.

“That’s why they’re top of the league. It’s a firm formula in this league in order to be at the top and they tick a lot of boxes for that, so we had to make sure we matched that today and did that and I think to a man we did.

“I don’t think anybody looks at that game and is able to tell me who is top and who is bottom. I thought there was very little between the two teams and that we gave a very good account of ourselves. That being the case, it’s something to kick on from.”

Photo: Action Images

Norwichbeater added 20:10 - Jan 31 I took my 10 year old daughter, 9 year old oldest son, and my 5 year old son (to his first ever game). I left frustrated disappointed and angry. It looked like we were playing for a draw from the start. We had no creativity, no desire, no plan B without Murphy and very negative tactics. Because of the train situation I paid 60 pound for taxis and the whole day was close to 200. I have had season ticket for over 10 years and been going regularly for 40. I left the ground apologising to my children and really hoping my 5 year old will want to go back.( he said he does!) why have we gone away from the attacking 4 3 3 that really worked well? Why did we seem to play for a draw? Why the hell is Evans not gambling with 2 or 3 million on players to really enhance our chance of promotion to the promised land that he set out as his main objective? We are so close to achieving something special but seem hell bent on fx king it up. Gutted today. Complete dross.

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jas0999 added 20:18 - Jan 31 I'm more concerned that mick thinks this is a good point. This was a must win game and we were terrible. Disappointing that the owner doesn't want to strengthen.
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Norwichbeater added 20:19 - Jan 31 We have also gone away from MM basic most important tactics. First to every ball, first to track back, first to tackle. MM teams are built around out fighting every team. That has gone in recent games. Why?
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toxtethblue added 20:29 - Jan 31 When you are gunning for automatic promotion I fail to see how a point at home to a relegation threatened team can ever be the cause of delight?!! Ever. Totally and utterly mistified...
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Walk_the_Wark added 20:30 - Jan 31 That could be a very costly result come the end of the season. McCarthy's predictability in team selection and tactics isn't asking any questions of our opponents at the moment
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wayway added 20:31 - Jan 31 It is not the first time one of our managers has tried to win something by not spending any money. If Robson had gone out and bought Pat Jennings when he had the chance plus a driving box to box midfield player in 1981 we would have won 2 league titles
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Pip50 added 20:34 - Jan 31 Way way I think he did pretty well in Cooper and Wark LOL
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Walk_the_Wark added 20:35 - Jan 31 wayway- John Wark not a good enough driving box to box midfielder for you?!!
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muccletonjoe added 20:58 - Jan 31 Let's hope our promotion chances do not rest on performances like this, it really was dire in the extreme, some of the comments on here really quite understandable after sitting through that.
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Steelmonkey added 21:00 - Jan 31 Not a pretty game, and the worst game at PR this season in my opinion, and I have seen them all. If we have expectations of playing in the Premier league we must have the class and nounce to despatch struggling teams as of the likes of Wigan. Fantastic player as Chambers is, he is not a right back. For the last four or five matches he has not been on his game, he openly said that he dislikes playing in that position and it is beginning to show. I think that it just shows that MM has to make do and mend. Does it benefit the team to have three or four players that can play one position or would it be better to have two dedicated players for all positions in the team. Yes we need players for temporary cover, I don't think we have the structure to support the former. Again our midfield was out played, Bishop coming on improved. We may have to think about moving on an established player and use the money to it's best use. However if there is money available (as in the case of buying Sears, £100,000 quoted) then why don't we use it, square pegs will never fit round holes. Dreading us coming up against the Scum if this is all we have to offer.

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tractorgrl added 21:23 - Jan 31 I am distraught, what a dreadful 'game'of hoofball, not good weather conditions i know but it is a winter sport. There didn't seem to be much imagination or ability to try a different tack. Must do better town!
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ArnieM added 21:50 - Jan 31 Why is it that every time we have a "break: in fixtures, the very next game we play we are complete and utter dross? We never fail to do this in all the years I've been watching us. I should have put a bet on us doing this today. However looking more broadly I see a worrying trend. Yes we are having our blip Right now but the top teams around us are strengthing significantly for that final push. We are not. It is clear we do not have cover for Murphy. McGoldrick Unfortunately looks a spent force. And we still lack creativity/ goals from midfield. Our squad has come a long way under MM/ TC but I fear we lack the depth to compete up to the final day of the season and pain me though it does to say it, I think we will fall away now unless 2-3 decent additions occur in the loan market.

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bluefeast added 22:10 - Jan 31 Ive said this 20 times since the summer ,should of taken the money for McGoldrick , we could of purchased 4 good attacking players and still had a few mill left. He will disappear down the plug hole.
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Tractamatt added 22:16 - Jan 31 I'm wondering wether there will be any news of players coming in over the next 48 hours because we need new blood to freshen things up we have to many players who feel that they are a certain thing for every game as we have no real quality in depth.
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Tractorboy1 added 23:16 - Jan 31 Every team goes through a rough patch. Boro was in a similar position not long ago and look at them now. Everyone needs to get behind the boys there is still a long way to go.
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Samassi100Abou added 23:44 - Jan 31 I commented on this before the Derby defeat and said I fear a loss against Derby and southampton may destroy our season the result minus 16 lol You can't be critical of mm he's been a revaluation yet another clean sheet ?? Like so many others im dissapointred in Marcus evens in not investing In a very solid hard to beat squad To cut a long story short and ive said this the whole time weve been winning we've hard to play against but don't have that cutting edge to compete for the whole season

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del45 added 00:22 - Feb 1 come on MM your fault with a rubbish team selection no Sears or Bishop with Murphy out needed to all out attack on a side second bottom and we are at home 3 points lost again because of lack of attacking ideas. Why bring on Sears and Bishop when most of the game gone, both should have started .
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GiveusaWave added 00:54 - Feb 1 Even MM is now aiming for a play-off spot: in my opinion that is the best we can expect. Yes, Wigan have good individual players: but most of these players haven't had time to gel and we should (in theory) have torn them apart today. But we played our usual hoofball and with no Murphy we were simply devoid of any chance of a goal. Their goalkeeper could have been absent today and it would still have been 0-0 at the end. This is not a single-point won. This was 2 points lost. We are punching well above our weight at the moment. Our team seemed to lack any spark or energy today. What has happened in the last 10 days? Wigan didn't need to play well to get their deserved 0-0. Stephen Hunt was so badly needed and he was forced to watch that abysmal display from the bench.

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essexbluey added 05:50 - Feb 1 What's up with some fans at the end of the game booing?????? These glory hunters need to get real we are not madrid barcelona or any top club. Where do some people get off on booing our team. Over the years i must have spent 20 grand following ipswich home and away and even in the dark days of keane i never booed the team whats the point. Also i have noticed a few fans blaming refs all the time it not refs fault we cant score. I wish that we had a small ground and only the real fans where let in and not the glory hunters. Well done mick and terry your doing a great job on a small budget and i thank evans for saveing our club from the same fate as luton coventry portsmouth and others.

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skinnyman27 added 07:07 - Feb 1 poor performance yes, but wigan are in a false position, they have some good players. why do town fans think that we should win every game. i am getting so pissed off with them, call yourselves supporters, you are a joke. most important thing is to re group forget about it and hopefully get 3 points next game. honestly most of you would probably moan if you won the lottery, get a life and support the boys, they need us more than ever right now. ipswich till i die coyb!!

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skinnyman27 added 07:10 - Feb 1 p.s im glad to see we have some real fans like essexbluey. booing your team is disgusting, if they give 100 per cent how can you complain, any of you ever have a bad day at work, i know for sure i have
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battyblue added 08:29 - Feb 1 Take a holiday Mick let Terry Conner pick the team we may score four goals.
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runaround added 09:25 - Feb 1 Reading Mick's comments I really hope he is just trying not to slag off the team in public. The only reason he should be delighted with a point is because we were so awful, we deserved to lose, and only didn't due to Wigan's total lack of attacking ambition. Promotion is still achievable but not if we continue to play like yesterday. If that continues there is a real danger of us finishing outside the top 6 which, from where we were just a couple of weeks ago will be disgrace

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purplealien added 09:35 - Feb 1 It's obvious we've been over achieving this season, but that's down to Mick's ability to get the most out of players. Confidence is far more significant than most people acknowledge. What do you expect Mick's to say? Yes we were s**t today? Anyone who boos (or tears the team apart on here) is contributing to our decline in form in my opinion. Yes of course you are entitled to you opinion ("paid good money" etc), but the last thing we should do when entering a negative spiral is accelerate it. We have shown we can compete with any team in this league when everything clicks. We can do it, but we need to stay behind the team. COYB

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brittaniaman added 11:10 - Feb 1 I know it does not seem much when one say we are only 3pts from the top two, But last week we were only 1pt from the top two !!!! also the next near future teams we play seem to have got there acts together, so we must get back to how we played in December ?? Glad this January has now gone !!
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