Boss Mick McCarthy is still unsure how many points the Blues will require in order to confirm their Championship status fir 2013/14. Saturday’s last-gasp 1-0 victory over Derby at Pride Park took Town up to 14th in the table on 53 points, six from the drop zone.

“I’m not very good at hard questions,” joked McCarthy when asked how many points would ultimately be required for survival.

“I’ve no idea. I remember when I came into the job in November I thought it would be 50 points because that’s generally the case.

“But it’s looked like it’s going to be more. It has been bonkers, the whole league. We’ve come off when we’ve won and everybody else has won and I said that at some stage that will stop. Not all the bottom teams can keep winning.

“We worked hard, we fought our corner but we got lucky at Derby. Or was it a good [penalty] save? The strike at the end wasn’t lucky, it was a great strike.”

While the Blues were fortunate against the Rams, the rub of the green has gone against them in previous games with McCarthy a firm believer in the old adage that in time these things even themselves out.

“I think it does over a season,” he said. “It’s easy to be magnanimous when I’m sat here and we’ve just won but I did say that when we lost, so I’m not just being smart now.

“I did say that [at Forest] and I did say that when we were at Bristol City and we played ever so well and we didn’t get any luck, but it does change.

“You have to believe that you get a fair ratio of good and bad decisions and good and bad performances when you win and lose.”

Despite admitting that his team’s display was well under par, the spirit he has instilled since he took over at the start of November was again evident.

“They’ve been fabulous, that’s been right through the club since I’ve been here,” he said. “Without that we’d have been out of the league now. The players deserve a huge amount of credit for that, they’ve been excellent.”

Saturday’s fifth clean sheet in a row equalled a club record — the last time Town achieved similar was towards the end of the 1996/97 campaign — and was the seventh time in eight matches that the Blues had prevented the opposition from scoring.

The only goal in that time came from Nottingham Forest, Lewis McGugan's deflected effort when Town were down to nine men. The Blues have also now gone 10 away matches without conceding a first half goal, a new club record.

Given Town’s previous defensive fragility, McCarthy is delighted: “It’s a really good record of clean sheets.

“Somebody can always find the negative in that, someone asked me [last week] about keeping clean sheets — ‘Why don’t you score some goals?’. Well, six 0-0 draws between then and the end of the season, I think we’d stay up with that, so I’ll take three more now.”

Scott Loach has been in goal for the last three clean sheets, having registered another in his previous game, the 4-0 victory over Middlesbrough in February before a thumb injury saw Stephen Henderson return to the side.

The 24-year-old saved his second penalty of the season from Jamie Ward at Pride Park, Huddersfield's James Vaughan having taken the first in the 2-2 draw at Portman Road in September.

McCarthy says Loach watched footage of Derby’s recent spotkicks — Saturday’s miss was their fourth on the trot — on Friday and on the day of the game and he says he is pleased with the former Watford man: “I was delighted with him.

"I was giving him stick for some of his kicks when he kept kicking it out of play, but that’s just me being a pedantic manager and I’ll keep doing it. But he played well.”

Did the result finally mean that the Blues boss can see some light at the end of the tunnel? “I don’t know, but I’ll enjoy my beer tonight.”

Photo: Action Images

BigAlwasmyhero added 21:22 - Apr 8 Ippy4life. Thanks for the name compliment. Re-read your original post. You can't convince me.
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siebdykstra added 22:36 - Apr 8 I think we'll finish between 10th and 14th. On a great run of not conceding, so if that continues that's where we'll finish. And if Mick can get hold of the right players and continue the form we may just be close to the play offs next year. I don't want to say it's a sure thing as we have done that too often, but I am hopeful of a relatively succesful season next year, and and even better the year after. As long as Mick hangs around. A colleague commented on the style of our play at the moment. Couldn't care less, results are everything. Passing percentage etc means the square root of nothing if you lose. COYB!

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Blue041273 added 22:37 - Apr 8 Ippyforlife You may think we are still going down. Most of us think different. We support our team, our manager and the whole embracing sense of belonging to a dream that you, for whatever reason, can't seem to buy into. OK we might ultimately be delusional, but it is surely better to to dream than to give up on a prospect of survival with the games we have left. Realism is looking at the table and recognising that there are 10 teams below us. That means that 7 of those teams have to get above us over the course of 5 games. We may need a couple of points to be absolutely safe but we should get those comfortably now. Ippyforlife's assertion that we might not get those points and thereby may be get relegated is not a view that I can believe based on our recent admirable results.

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Beattiesballbag added 10:00 - Apr 9 ippy4life added 10:21 - Apr 8 This is the first thing he has said right, I still think we will be going down. We need to get a lot of new players, especially in defence. We cant rely on Chopra and Martin every game, we are going to get some more experience in the team. I've been reading twtd for a couple of years to get the latest news updates & usually read the comments left as well, some of which make you wonder about the IQ or age of some people! Asking questions when the answer is already in what they have just read! To all those that took ippy4life seriously,or said he was negative. Are you allowed out without your mother to look after you! Should he be an Ipswich or Norwich fan it is a JOKE . which he made so obvious for you with the remarks about the defence & relying on Chops & Martin. Yeah! we cant expect Martin to keep on scoring 20 a season can we ! At least Ippy4life has a sense of humour, Please Please next time you go to make a comment try thinking about what you have just read before you hit the keyboard & make yourself look stupid. I bet someone will read this & say i'm just talking ballocks!!!!!!!

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LankHenners added 11:40 - Apr 9 Beattiesballbag - the irony is you have a go at people for seeming stupid but whilst arguing this point you yourself have made basic grammatical errors. Or is that just part of your clearly warped sense of humour?
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blockb_steward added 12:22 - Apr 9 Ippyforlife, you are entitled to your opinion but your original statement is riddled with errors. I don't feel Town have relied on Chopra or Martin every game, in fact there are a number of games where neither featured. Town are finally on the up. Keane was a false dawn and PJ was not up to the job. In MM/TC we finally have a management team who will take this club forward. I know we are all paying customers and entitled to gripe but in fairness we are now in a posiion we could only dream of in November so let's get behind the team and move on. If we're still down there next season (which I doubt) then Ippyforlife, you may have a point.

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Beattiesballbag added 14:14 - Apr 9 HennersITFC- Sorry for the careless grammer but my mum wasn't here to help me! Sorry it's just my sense of humour, but I have to ask, did you find Ippy negative ? I'm guessing blockb steward did !
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LankHenners added 15:50 - Apr 9 Beattiesballbag - fair play on the grammar! I did find ippy's comments negative but assumed they were sarcastic. I also assume that his following comments emphasised the sarcasm. I merely wanted to state that I think this is a time for fans to find optimism and get behind the team rather than be pessimistic. I meant no harm.
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