Boss Mick McCarthy says he’s disappointed and frustrated not to make the top six, believing his team had competed with the best sides in the division throughout the season, but overall believes it has been an "acceptable season". Last week’s 1-0 defeat at Burnley ended the Blues’ hopes of reaching the play-offs.
McCarthy says he didn’t set any hard and fast pre-season targets: "Did I expect to be in the top six? I set off with the view that we’ll do the best we can and end up where we are. As for setting targets for yourself, I think set the target to win the next game.
"And the more often you win that, the more likely you’re going to be in the top six or in the top two or wherever it might be.”
He believes his side was capable of making the play-offs "I’m disappointed and slightly frustrated because I think we could have got in the top six. Do I think we’re better than the top two, Leicester and Burnley? No, obviously.
"Do I think we’re better than Wigan and Derby and Brighton and Reading? No, but we’ve competed with them all season long.
"It’s come down to the last game where we’re not involved. Maybe Easter took its toll, the trip to Watford on the Saturday and Bournemouth on the Monday, and in the end it was a deflection that did us.
"Who knows, we might have been on the back of it, but overall it’s certainly been an acceptable season from what was going on beforehand.”