Both managers played down a half-time tunnel clash in the wake of George O'Callaghan's controversial red card at Watford. Jim Magilton dismissed the incident as “handbags”, while Aidy Boothroyd denied that an incident had taken place at all.

Magilton said: "It was handbags at five paces, just that. A few words were exchanged, that was it. And not by me - I was in the dressing room."

The Town boss was delighted with his players despite the defeat: "In football, as in life, you don't always get what you deserve and we have to take in on the chin. To a man, I was immensely proud of them.

"We came with a game plan and it worked a treat. We were outstanding and rose to the occasion. We were the better team.

"I have had a look at Danny Haynes's offside goal and the linesman was dozing. It was a goal."

On the O‘Callaghan red card Magilton says he will review the incident: "If he has kicked out then he will be dealt with internally, but it looked very harsh from where I was."

The Town manager was unimpressed by Steve Bennett's overall display: "I wasn't happy with the referee's performance full stop. He told Gary Roberts after five minutes not to touch him and then the ref frogmarches off one of our injured players, Jaime Peters. I have never seen anything like it before."

O'Callaghan, who was making his first Town start, denied Bennett‘s claim that he had stamped on Danny Shittu: "The player came in on me and we ended up on the floor and I just flicked out at him to get him off.

"It was nothing, just a reaction to say 'get off' that happens time and time again in the game. If anything he caught me but the referee said he was sending me off for stamping. How could I stamp him if I'm on the floor?

"It was definitely nothing malicious and I feel it was really harsh. The TV people have looked at on the screen and they said it was harsh as well.

"But I feel I have let the players, the gaffer and the fans down because the end result is that I was sent off. At the time we right on top and we could have gone on to reach the quarter-finals of the FA Cup and that would have been a massive boost to the club."

Watford boss Aidy Boothroyd conceded his side were second best: "I won't sit here and say we were great because we weren't. Ipswich were the better side for 85 minutes - which is a bit of a problem when you play for 90.

"I feel for Ipswich in many ways but we know what that's like. Numerous Premiership managers have said that to me. We took our chance at the end, we are in the next round and that's what counts."

Boothroyd refuted suggestions that he was involved in a tunnel clash at the break and claims that Magilton approached Shittu as the defender left the field: "That's not true. Do I look like I want to get involved with anybody at all? It gets intense, football, and sometimes voices are raised and things are said but we didn't get involved. Would you go for big Dan? Honestly, there is no truth in that."

Despite the good performance, Town's failure to score means the Blues have now gone six away games without a goal, a new club record.

Photo: Action Images

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