Cardiff City manager Malky Mackay says the Blues are by no means out of the running for this season’s play-offs. The former Canary lost a game against Town for the first time as either a player or a manager on Saturday as his Bluebirds side left Suffolk on the end of the 3-0 defeat.

Mackay says there’s plenty of football still to be played and that Town have time to make up the 11 points between their current position of 16th and the top six: “I think with 15 games to go anyone that is of good value can make the play-offs, and Ipswich are absolutely like that.

“People go on a good run. You see in this division teams go on five or six-game runs and all of a sudden they go from 18th to 10th to into the top area.

“It’s a tight league and it will go right down to the wire, the relegation places, the play-off places and the top two this year.”

He added: “They’ve beaten the league leaders 5-1 and I look at them and there’s stacks of experience in their squad, so I don’t see why not.”

Mackay said it was little surprise that Michael Chopra, who joined the Blues from Cardiff for £1 million in the summer, netted against his old club: “Well, he is the opposition centre-forward and we did get caught on the break, so it was going to be in the centre near the end.

“Michael Chopra’s a goalscorer, which is why Ipswich bought him for the amount of money they did. He’s a good player, simple as that.”

While disappointed to taste defeat against Town for the first time, Mackay admits he likes visiting Suffolk: “I enjoy coming to Portman Road, the club have always been fairly kind to me all through my career, considering I’m an ex-Norwich player!

“They’re good people here, it’s always a lovely pitch and it’s always a good game because the crowd are always very vociferous and there’s always lots of them.

“I knew that we were coming into a tough game today and we had to be at our best and in the first half we were certainly giving good value.”

Photo: Action Images

Drew added 08:47 - Feb 20 Always liked Malky, seems like a decent bloke, despite being an ex-scummer.
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TractorRoyNo1 added 08:48 - Feb 20 calm down, calm down! let's get in the top half of the table before getting giddy again
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BillBlue added 08:59 - Feb 20 Forget it lads. If it happens then let it happen, all we should be concentrating on is our next game - Brighton away! COYB
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algarvefan added 09:16 - Feb 20 One game at a time please!
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Behind_Enemy_Lines added 09:21 - Feb 20 Malky yeah not that bad a person considering he is ex Norwich unlike that toss@r Fleming now he's a right banker !!!!!
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itfc1981 added 09:51 - Feb 20 Good old Manky.
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Stourbridgeblue added 10:53 - Feb 20 One of my best Town memories was Alan Lee & Malky kicking lumps out of each other at Vicarge Rd. Real old fashioned hard man stuff. Until Lee got a booking for shoulder charging Malky through the advertising hoardings. Priceless :-)
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jas0999 added 11:18 - Feb 20 Great result at the weekend, but far too many sub-standard performances prior to this winning run. Play-offs would be great, but it will show how bad this league is if we make them. As it stands we have STILL lost over 1/2 of our games this season!
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bigfatjoe87 added 11:27 - Feb 20 as much as i would love it we had this last season aswell just before the norwich game we went on a run could of made the play off then got two hammerings from in a row. however it isnt impossible crystal palace when on an amazing run back in 2004 went from 3rd or 4th bottom to play offs and went up. i would be happy if we challanged but would be to downhearted if we didnt make it. having a structure and a team in place before pre season that will challange all the way next season is more important. wonder were the boo boys have gone...

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Karlosfandangal added 12:08 - Feb 20 Play off no thank you As we are a very long way off Prem as a team, another season in the championship will do the likes of Drury and Hyam Smith Carson etc good as its a very big step up for even players like Chopra. Few good additions in the summer and keep the core team together and go for it next season. That will give the team 50 odd games together and a couple of summers to buy in players who can make a differance in keeping us in the prem

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alfromcol added 12:34 - Feb 20 jas0999 Try looking ahead for a change instead of what's in the rear view mirrors.
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tellitasiseeit added 12:40 - Feb 20 Secure and build, improve the team regardless how many games we may put together.We are not yet stable enough for Prem football . Build a team, with good reserve players on the bench ,then win the championship next season and then take anybody on in the Prem league. COYB
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simonsays added 13:09 - Feb 20 Concentrate on your own club scummer.
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Edinburgh_Blue added 13:12 - Feb 20 @jas0999. 'We've lost over half our games this season'. We know! Do you have to make that statement in EVERY post. Get some new material fella.
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confoosed_dot_com added 14:18 - Feb 20 @Edinburgh_BLue, it's very hard for Jas0999 to find new material when the most recent performances have been four victories. This is a very worrying development, and leaves little to moan about. Here's keeping everything crossed that we lose 18-0 on Saturday and have four sent off. And PJ gets sacked. And Clegg leaves. And there are no pies at half time. and the trains are late. And it rains. A lot.

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bluekeen added 16:53 - Feb 20 I THINK WE SHOULD ALL WEAR FAIRY WINGS TO THE BRIGHTON GAME.....
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itfc4eva added 12:21 - Feb 21 Town have confidence in themselves and are willing to shoot from long distance... We havent seen this in the PJ era. Things are slowly on the up but town need to stay focused and dont get too cocky, otherwise we could be fighting a relegation battle again. Might have lost half of our games but most last year. Think 2012 is a turning post for town where we can push on PO and get promotion soon. COYB!!!!!!

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