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Derby Defeat a Setback But McCarthy Now Focused on Leeds - Ipswich Town News

Town boss Mick McCarthy says Sunday’s derby defeat at Norwich was a setback but isn’t too despondent or depressed and is now fully focused on tonight’s game at Leeds.

"It’s a setback because we lost three points,” he said. "Take the emotion out of it, I know all the fans [will feel that], I get that, but for us it’s three points.

"We would have got no more points [than from any other game] and there was nothing in the game bar the two goals. And everybody’s screaming, we know that.

"We’ve won enough games this year thinking that there was nothing in them, the opposition has had more possession, they’ve had more shots and we’ve won 2-0.

"I think they got a little break when it hit Christophe Berra’s heel. It was a fabulous finish for the first one.

"The keeper made a good save from Freddie and the second one is a deflection. I think it hits Ty, bounces back off him and ends up bobbling over Bart.

"I thought we were the better team in the second half and the second goal killed the game.

"So, I’m not despondent about how we played and the result is the result. As I keep telling you, if I'm going to be really despondent and depressed when we’ve lost a game, then I’m going to do it a few times a season.

"We’ve concentrated on Leeds, we can’t do anything about that one. We’ll move on to the next games.”

He says no one match should be the be-all and end-all of any season: "Somebody said to me early on about beating Norwich and I said ‘If we beat them and lose the rest and get relegated, would you be happy?’. They said, ’No, no, no…’

"It riles me to the extent that it almost has to be that it’s a certain game that you have to win.

"You have to get a certain amount of points and that’s what I always look at. And we’re still only three off the top two.

"If we get enough for that, great. If we don’t and we get in the play-offs, still great. That’s got to be our aim and not worry about [particular matches] because we’ll lose another game. We’ve got to focus on Leeds.”

He says the players were similarly level-headed after the derby defeat: "I went round them all yesterday, just had a chat, seeing how they feel.

"There were none of them that thought we were outplayed. We were out-gunned because they scored two goals.

"There weren’t that many chances in it. It was just a tight, tough derby game. And they recognised that. It’s not my influence rubbing off for one game it’s my influence rubbing off over the course of nearly two and a half years now, I’ve been the same.

"I try to be consistent win, lose or draw. I try to be fair about it, fair with the players. I don’t see it through rose-coloured specs for them and I certainly don’t see it through rose-coloured specs for the media.”

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