McCarthy Happy With a Point Sunday, 26th Feb 2017 15:50 Town boss Mick McCarthy admitted he would have been happy with a point before kick-off after the Blues’ 1-1 draw with East Anglian rivals Norwich City at Carrow Road. Jonas Knudsen netted his second derby goal of the season on 63 but Jacob Murphy equalised for the Canaries six minutes later. “Yes,” McCarthy admitted when he was asked whether he was happy with a point. “I think we’ve had to be tough and resolute and organised and hard-working because they’re a good side. “We scored a really good goal from probably our best bit of play, which warranted a goal, I think. “Bartosz has won the ironic man of the match award because he was absolutely magnificent and then he’s not happy that he let the shot in. But he was terrific. “They’ve had the better chances, I haven’t seen it but apparently we should have had a penalty but it makes no odds whether we should or we shouldn’t, there’s no point in whinging about it. “We had a goal disallowed in the game at home which should have been a goal, so perhaps we haven’t had our luck in that respect but I think we carried a bit of luck at times, and a bit of magnificent goalkeeping which kept us in it. I’m delighted with the point.” McCarthy was frustrated the Blues weren’t able to hold on to their lead for longer: “They got back on level terms, but I would have taken a point before I set off. “We’ve got a point, I’m not going to complain about anything. We’ve out in a good performance. “They put a £9 million substitute on [Alex Pritchard] and I put one on who cost £20,000 from Forest Green [Kieffer Moore]. “I’ve a right wing-back [Jordan Spence] I took on a free. My lads are great, they’re playing against a team which has cost a helluva lot of money and has just come down from the Premier League but I couldn’t be any happier or prouder about my lads, they’re great.” Asked whether he was frustrated at not getting an early penalty with replays showing Mitchell Dijks clearly manhandle David McGoldrick at a corner, he said: “I haven’t seen it. “Was it a penalty? Yes? Well I’m really upset, I’m going to moan about it then! ‘Bloody hell, it should have been a penalty!’,” he joked. “What’s the point? The referees have their job to do. We had a goal disallowed in the first one, but if I look through the season we’ll have had penalties which should have been, goals which shouldn’t have been, offsides. “I’m glad I haven’t seen it so I don’t have to come in here and bitch about it. I’m relying on you for info.” McCarthy agreed that Bialkowski had been magnificent: “He’s been that all season, to be quite honest. The one from [Alexander] Tettey from the edge of the box that he saved, he one down from [Alex] Pritchard when he came on. He’s outstanding, he really is. I’ve got no axe to grind with him at all.” Is he the best in the Championship? “I’ve said that in the past. It’s pretty subjective and I’m not a goalkeeping coach but I’ve been a manager and a coach for a long time and if there’s anybody better or anybody who has served any team better and made as many saves and got as many points for their team, I’d be very surprised.” McCarthy felt it would be unfair to blame the former Southampton and Notts County man for the Norwich goal. Should he have saved it? “Not really, I’m not a goalkeeper-coach. He’s come in and he’s annoyed that he didn’t save it. “Think of all the other saves he made, he probably thinks he should, but he’ll get no blame apportioned from me.” McCarthy was delighted with the way all his squad performed: “I always am. I’ve never come in here and complained about players. They always leave everything on the pitch. They don’t bring anything back in with them, that’s for certain. “They’re good guys and it’s a testament to the them that we’ve gone unbeaten in the games this month against really tough teams as well.” "The Town boss also had praise for David McGoldrick, who was instrumental in his side’s goal and has been in impressive form in recent weeks. “It’s lovely to have good players back fit and well and firing on all cylinders and not trying to get back fit,” he said. “He’s been outstanding over recent weeks. It’s lovely to have him back.” “It’s unfair on him if he’s not up to speed, if he’s not fully fit. When you get a player like him you want him to play and the temptation is to play him all the time and leave him on the pitch, which can be to his detriment. “He’s worked very, very hard to get himself back to that level and we’re getting the rewards from it, he’s been good.” Also back as a sub, for the first time after undergoing back surgery in September, was Tommy Smith, who came on as a second half sub. “I think he’ll know he’s been out there as well, to be honest with you,” McCarthy reflected on his New Zealand international central defender. A third 1-1 draw in a row against one of the division’s higher flyers extends Town’s unbeaten run to five games, continuing their February form which has seen them go through a tough month unbeaten. “It does and it puts the brakes on any run which they might be having, which doesn’t upset me greatly, if I’m being honest,” he added. He says he takes extra pleasure from taking points from sides, such as Norwich, with much bigger budgets. “I think we all do, myself and the players and TC, the coaching staff do,” McCarthy admitted. “If that’s the Ts and Cs of my job and we have to get them in that way, take loans and take frees, we got Danny Rowe as well who we took from Macclesfield, he’s looking good, he’ll get fit. “If that’s what it is and we keep getting the best out of them, that’s what we do and it’s very rewarding, I have to be honest.” Norwich manager Alex Neil thought his side were profligate in front of goal and also had praise for Bialkowski. “We put in a good performance over the 90 minutes. I thought we created a lot of good opportunities,” he said. “I thought we were wasteful at times with some of the chances we did have and I think the ones that we did make good clean contact and put goalwards I thought their goalkeeper pulled of three really good saves. “I can’t be critical of my team. I thought my team went out and worked extremely hard. Ipswich had one shot on target and scored the goal. “When you don’t take your opportunities and are quite wasteful, then what can happen is that that sucker-punch can come your way.”
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