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McCarthy: Better Side After the Break - Ipswich Town News

Blues boss Mick McCarthy felt his side were the better team during the second half of their 2-1 home defeat to Hull City.

The Town boss thought his Tigers counterpart Steve Bruce would have believed his team deserved to win but wasn't so certain that that was the case himself: "I’m sure Steve thinks they deserve to win overall, over the 90 minutes, and certainly over the first 45 minutes they would have done, but we know it lasts for 90 minutes.

"Having endured a tough first half, where I changed the team to try and stop them playing a bit, and I thought it worked up until they got the penalty. When they scored it gave them a bit of freedom and confidence and they were far better than us in the first half.

"In the second half we were the better team, we deserved the equaliser, we probably had the better chances to win it.

"We didn’t clear the corner particularly well and then when we didn’t do that we didn’t mark. Mistake for the penalty, mistake for the second goal.”

The Blues boss wasn’t too harsh on scorer Anthony Wordsworth for failing to clear Robbie Brady’s corner in the run-up to the goal: "Somebody’s got to repair it for him and everybody else mark and then say ‘Woody, don’t clear it like that, clear it properly’.

"Don’t be looking to point fingers afterwards if somebody’s made a mistake, repair it for them, don’t compound a mistake and it end up [with a goal].”

McCarthy wasn’t surprised that his friend Bruce admitted Ipswich had the better of the second half: "Steve’s a proper bloke, he’s a good mate and he’s not going to say anything other than we did.

"I thought we were the dominant team in the second half, but it’s no good being the dominant team and getting beat.”

McCarthy had few complaints about the penalty awarded when Guirane N'Daw felled David Meyler: "I’ve not really seen it. I’ve seen it from a long distance camera angle on Prozone.

"Everybody seems to think it was. At the time I had a whinge about it, which I’m bound to do, but it looks like a penalty to me.”

He says he’s not sure of the extent of Jay Tabb’s injury: "He got knocked on the top of his knee and it just stiffened up. We won’t know until tomorrow.”

McCarthy wasn’t sure whether Corry Evans’s challenge ought to have been worthy of more than a yellow card but wasn't complaining: "I don’t know. I’d have to see it again. It’s easy [to rush to judgement] in the heat of the game, the penalty for example, ‘It’s not a penalty!'.

"I generally look at the games on a Monday morning or on a Sunday and mainly the refs have got most of it right.

"If you take challenges out of it, then it won’t be the game I know and love. I think there were challenges on both sides which could have been freekicks. I’ve no arguments with that at all.”

Aside from Tabb, the Blues manager said there was only one other injury concern after today’s game that he was aware of: "Chops has got ice on his calf but that’s precautionary, it’s just stiff. I don’t know. I’ve not had any reported yet anyway.”

Tigers boss Steve Bruce conceded that his side found it tougher after the break: "All credit to Ipswich. They changed tactically in the second half and we found it a bit of a struggle.

"But in the first half I thought we were excellent and showed why we’re a team at the top of the table.

"We’ve played like that before but I think people might be starting to pay a little attention now, with four games to play.”

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