Town boss Mick McCarthy was delighted with the 0-0 draw at Nottingham Forest as the Blues stretched their unbeaten away run to six games.
"It’s a terrific away point,” he said. "It was gritty, which is the necessity, you need that every week. Then, if you can add a bit of gloss on it with something else, fab.
"We got away with a couple in the first half, and I’m not referring to the penalty because it wasn’t a penalty.
"I’m sure Billy and the Nottingham Forest chaps are moaning like drains and think it is, but he’s on his way down, he didn’t catch him and I think he was offside as well, to be honest. So all in all I think it was the right decision, bearing all that in mind.”
The player involved in the penalty incident, Forest striker Simon Cox, had already been booked for a foul on Frank Nouble. Should referee Scott Mathieson have shown a second yellow card?
"I don’t think that every time somebody goes over should necessarily be a booking,” McCarthy said. "It’s up to the referee that one. I guess he could. He’d already been booked, had he? I think he got away with one as much as we got away with one.”
Did he go down looking for it? "It’s probably his momentum. He’s stretching for it, he knocked it wide of Gerks and Gerks pulled out of it and he’s just gone down.
"I don’t think every tackle’s a booking, I don’t think because somebody goes over it’s a dive.
"I don’t know, it looks to me like his momentum has taken him over, if the referee decides not, I’ll go with it.”
The Town boss had praise for referee Mathieson: "I think it’s a fabulous decision. Of course I would, but he’s got it right.
"It’s not me coming in here and wearing rose-coloured specs, he’s got the decision correct and he should be lauded for that. He’ll be getting some dog’s abuse because they thought it was.
"A lot would have given it. I thought it was a stonewaller. When I saw it I thought it was a stonewall penalty, but the lads on the bench said ‘No, he was on his way down’.
"They’ve got better eyes than me, I’m 54, they’re 24. So fair dos to them, they didn’t think it was, but lots would have given that there in front of that end.”
He says he kept to the 4-3-3 system he employed against Huddersfield last week to counteract the threat presented by Andy Reid: "I wanted someone to look after Reidy. Reidy playing in behind the frontman was a real threat.
"To be fair, I had to change it. It was my fault we were getting overrun because I was being a bit aggressive away from home, so we changed it and made it 4-5-1.
"We settled down then just before half-time and we did that in the second half and we frustrated them and they couldn’t play through us.”
McCarthy hailed keeper Dean Gerken for his second man of the match display in two weeks: "Gerks has been great, he came on trial in the close season, came to Ireland with us and I liked him.
"He got in after the four defeats in five games with a few others and he’s held his place, he’s been outstanding, I think.
"[The save from Cox] was fabulous. I think it was a point-winning performance from our goalkeeper. So, we got away with it, I think our goalkeeper’s our star man."
In addition to the point-blank save from Cox in the second half, McCarthy thought the keeper tipped the Irish international striker’s header onto the bar before the break: "I think he did. Let’s give it him anyway.”
Overall, the Town boss was pleased to continue the unbeaten away run: "We’re just ticking along OK, we’re doing all right.
"This is a really good point at Nottingham Forest because they’ve got a squad which has been invested in heavily, a really good squad of players and you could see what a good team they were in the first half when we had to hang on a little bit.”
Forest boss Billy Davies believed his side would have won if they had taken their opportunities: "We were playing against a side that’s on fire. I thought for most of the game we probably controlled it. It’s another very good clean sheet.
"Probably nine-tenths of our play is good, tactically we’re working, we’re listening, the attitude’s good, but football’s ultimately about chances, and you’ve got to take your chances.”
Regarding the penalty incident, he was non-committal: "These things happen, some you get, some you don’t. It is what it is, some you get, some you don’t.”
Asked if he, like McCarthy, thought it was a spotkick at the time, he added: "I can tell you I’ve got worse eyes than he’s got, and because of that I’m going to say to you ‘Some you get, some you don’t’.”