Town boss Mick McCarthy felt the Blues’ 1-1 home draw with AFC Bournemouth was a fair enough result, even if he was disappointed to concede the equaliser in the 82nd minute. Freddie Sears put Town ahead on six but debutant Kenwyne Jones nodded home for the Cherries with his first touch for his loan club.

“I can’t sit here in all honesty and say 1-1’s not a fair result because they had a lot of the game,” McCarthy said.

“But, that said, of course I’m disappointed at conceding when we did, but it was a hard game and we’ve had to play well and defend well.

“They’ve put a very, very, very expensive acquisition on and he’s pretty good in the air. I’ve just watched it and he and Tommy Smith are head to head and it’s just one of those.

"Sometimes you get a head on it and it flies in, sometimes you don’t, that’s what’s happened. He’s started to pay a bit back I would say.”

He added: “For all the talk this week that we are a direct, long-ball team and they’re quite the opposite, the irony is that the goal comes when they’ve put somebody on and they’ve launched it up to his head.

“You need to have Plan A and Plan B. They got a corner kick from it because we couldn’t deal with the first one and they scored with the ball [into the box] and they continued to put it on his head.

“There are all different ways of playing, aren’t there? And I think they should all be respected, to be honest.”

There were numerous candidates in the Town side for the man of the match award, which pleased the Blues manager.

“It’s nice when you have a good team performance, and it was,” he continued. “We’ve had to play well, we’ve had to defend well, we’ve had to work hard.

“Over all the game, I would say 1-1 is fair but, of course, when you get so close to winning it and what it would have done for us, it’s doubly disappointed.”

Does he believe Town’s chance of winning automatic promotion is now over having failed to win? “Probably. I keep saying it is and it isn’t. I don’t know what will happen. We might go to Huddersfield and win and then win the next two and suddenly [it’s on].

“It’s up to them. If the others keep winning there’s nothing we can do about it. There’s nothing we can do except play our games and see what results we get.”

McCarthy’s believes the Cherries are the best team in the division: “They are. We’ve played exceptionally well against them twice. I’ve come away and I’m happy with a point, in the end. It’s another point to the total that we’ll end up with on May 2nd.

“If we end up in the play-offs by a point we might be looking back saying ’Wow, what a save that was from Bart’. Everybody looks back and tells me what point cost us, I prefer to look back and see what point maybe did it for us, and this might be the one.

“I’ve heard a lot this week about the way we play and what we do and how we do it. All I think is that Ipswich have got a team to be proud of and we are a real threat to anybody that we play against.

“I can’t imagine anybody’s sitting there thinking ‘Great, we’ve got Ipswich to play next week’ because that’s probably not the case. So let’s hope we get in the play-offs and we can compete with them.”

Asked whether he had any thoughts on complaints that some of the Bournemouth players went to ground too easily, McCarthy wouldn’t be drawn: “Not really, no.”

Cherries boss Eddie Howe was pleased to gain a point having been behind: “I thought we did really well in the first half after we conceded the goal, we recovered quite well and played some good football.

“I thought in the second half we got stuck with too much direct play. Ipswich pressed very well, they constantly turn you and ask questions of your back four and put you under pressure and I didn’t think we dealt with that very well and ended up chucking the ball back to them too much, which didn’t suit us.

“But once we made the changes we scored probably an ‘unBournemouth’ goal but equally effective, from a set piece.

“It was good to see because we haven’t come back from losing positions enough this season so that could be a big point for us.”

Photo: Action Images

KiwiBlue2 added 20:31 - Apr 3 Pity we couldnt hold on but you have to give B'mouth some credit. A win at Huddersfield please........
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bluesince84 added 20:35 - Apr 3 No complaints today, best team that's played here in years i would say. Thought everyone put in a shift today, even Tabb who was very good at getting among them. i will even defend mick not putting on Mcgoldrick or Joniesta as they haven't played in months and thought the formation matched their obvious threat. They deserve to go up, much as i though they went to ground way to easily , you cant deny the quality of football they play which was at times electric. Think they will do very very well in the PL. Well done to the boys, keeps us in it, as i write watford and derby are 1-1 so will be interesting. Two winnable games coming up, i would say if we dont beat Blackpool we dont deserve playoffs so got to win both.

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DurhamTownFan added 20:49 - Apr 3 In isolation, a great battling point against one of the best teams in the division (remind me of us under Burley actually). In the bigger picture, perhaps one game which encapsulates the season for us. We fight, we hustle and pressure the opposition, but against the top sides over 46 games you need to match that with just a bit more guile to take the pressure off and keep the ball a bit when under fire. A win on Monday looks like a brilliant Easter, but is almost a must now if we want to keep pace with 4th/5th and keep the confidence going!

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itfcbonanza added 20:50 - Apr 3 Couldn't be at the match so had to watch on sky. Were they biased or what? They seemed disappointed when Freddie scored!! AFCB seemed to go to ground much too easily and the ref was generally fooled by them. Onwards and upwards
1

DurhamTownFan added 20:51 - Apr 3 By 'us under Burley' I was talking about Bournemouth, not Micks Ipswich! (Which I love equally really-especially when you get one over those whingers!)
0

bluefeast added 20:56 - Apr 3 They are by far the best team thats played at Portman rd in years , last time a team played with so much flair was US under magilton vs Wigan in a cup game when Steve Bruce was their manager.
0

Popeye added 20:57 - Apr 3 I'm sorry MM but you must be watching a different game because Smith was no where near the header!
1

ArnieM added 20:59 - Apr 3 Yes Bournemouth are a good football teàm. But they equally a bunch of diving cheats. How many penalties have they been given this season by diving?
7

dagenhamtown added 21:17 - Apr 3 sorry love town but no one got there foot on the ball like a hot potatoe route 1 from the back by pass midfield and lets be honest outclassed travisty if we won that but hey come on blues love ya
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Paulblue62 added 22:05 - Apr 3 Disappointed we didn't hold on, but it was a good performance from all the lads today. Bournemouth are a good side and one of the best I have seen us play this season. A point is a point an we move on to the next game. Roll on Monday.
3

TractorBeezer added 22:08 - Apr 3 Full credit to Bart and our defence today. It was 100% effort from our lads and a fair result. Bournemouth were impressive but go to ground much too easily. But to be honest it was 80% hoofball from us. If we could only control things properly in the midfield we would have much more possession and more chances would be created. McGoldrick and Jonny will hopefully change that for the balance of the games. Watched at the Football Factory in Toronto with other Tractor Boys and Girls. We 'll be there next for the Wolves game.

3

blueherts added 22:12 - Apr 3 We have players to come back - Mings , Parr and Bru Williams and Dids are like new signings really ? Got to say Varney has impressed as has Chaplow - Wood , still yet to see it - disappointing as I expected most from him out of all of them - just shows !! If you look at the run in of Derby , Brentford and Wolves they all play teams in the relegation battle Wigan and Millwall - who will be scrapping Plus Brentford play Derby Wolves is a HUGE GAME

3

osborne added 23:09 - Apr 3 Yeah blueherts, agree with you about Chaplow and Varney. Fryers looks good too! Add Sears well settled in, Joniesta to comeback too. You can't say Mick hasn't done a good good in strengthening the team since the New Year. A nice run now and the playoffs await, and still automatic is still a possibility. Trust in Mick to know what's needed at this point in the season. Think we could go up still - we've got the players and the manager. COYB!!!

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Green_Army added 23:16 - Apr 3 Been critical of Varney, but he was superb today, didn't put a foot wrong! Can't remember him losing an aerial battle. Couldn't ask for any more from the boys today!
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algarvefan added 00:00 - Apr 4 All been said really Bournemouth are the best footballing side in the Championship and an amazing 110% effort from our lads today.....that point just might make the difference at the end of the season.....still 18 points to play for, need to keep our head and with Mick at the helm anything is possible. COYB!!!!
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Normandyblue added 07:20 - Apr 4 At least he said 'Un-Bournemouth' and not 'Ipswich' Play-offs still very much on with the additions we have made, I would say that was our last crack at the top two, although you never know.
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Razor added 12:01 - Apr 4 OK, a fortunate point really and our goalie man of the match. Now Mick, no more messing about and no more fancy tactics or plans, the next 3 games are definitely winnaable with the right attitude and approach and team selection. Yes---WIN the games so pick Didds and Joniesta if they are really fit and dont leave them sat on the bench watching-----tell your little mate to go and make the teas and get Bru, Ambrose and Parr involved if possible. Do NOT go scratching round for draws ( I can just about forgive/understand yesterday) as they will mean nothing now----just go for it, fans would rather you would. See you all at Huddersfield!

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