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McCarthy: Point Gained - Ipswich Town News

Town boss Mick McCarthy felt that ultimately the Blues’ 1-1 draw with Peterborough was a point gained rather than one lost with Posh having gone in front in the first half.

McCarthy said it could be seen as either points dropped or one gained: "You can see it both ways I guess. It’s a point won.

"I haven’t seen the goal we conceded yet to pick the bones out of it but it looked like another soft and milky goal.

"People just score against us too easily, but I won’t know the reasons why until I see it. We didn’t play well in the first half, we couldn’t pass it to our team-mates.

"But it was coming, the performance, towards the end of the first half we were getting better and thankfully we improved in the second half with a bit more intensity and I think we deserved the point certainly, that’s for sure.”

The Blues manager thought there was no argument with Mark Halsey’s decision to award the spotkick: "I thought it was a penalty, I thought it was a stonewall penalty, to be honest.

"He got him stood up and as he’s gone past him he’s clipped his foot. He may have gone down slowly but it was a penalty.”

He had no issue with the crowd’s reaction to the first half display: "I understand that they deserved to boo us off. We were pretty poor in the first half, I’ve no problem with that at all.

"In the second half I thought there was a response from everybody, from the players and from the crowd. We were getting better, we were starting to look better and goals, penalties, make everyone feel better.

"There were chances at both ends, the game became really stretched,” he added. "We were trying to win it and we were in danger losing it in trying to win it.

"Their keeper made a good save, Hendo made a good save from the shot. They broke on us a couple of times. DJ Campbell clips it with his studs and if he gets a bit more on it he scores. It wasn’t great, it was exciting.”

McCarthy says Nigel Reo-Coker is definitely out of the Nottingham Forest match: "He’s hurt his hamstring so there’s no chance of him playing on Tuesday. He might be out for two or three weeks.”

Posh boss Darren Ferguson said his side would have won if they scored a second goal: "I am disappointed that we didn’t get the three points. I think it was a lost opportunity.

"We just needed that second goal. That was our biggest frustration. If we get the second goal, I think we win the game.”

He had no argument with the penalty: "No, I don’t think so. I haven’t seen it again. Lee Tomlin doesn’t think it was, he felt it was soft, but one of my coaches sits in the stand and he thought it was a penalty. He’s given it, so it is.”

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