Manager Mick McCarthy had no regrets about making six changes to his side after the Blues exited the Capital One Cup at the first round stage having lost 2-0 at Stevenage.

The Blues boss felt his side were OK before the break: “In the first half I thought it was all right, to be honest with you. It was difficult, but we expected it to be a difficult game.

“In the second half we gave a freekick away and then a penalty and the lads aren’t too happy about it, but no one ever is. Until I see it I won’t know.

“Then I changed the team and I put the two lads [McGoldrick and Murphy] on and we had a bit of a resurgence and then we gave a goal away, which killed us off.

Despite the defeat, he didn’t feel he’d made a mistake in making six changes: “None whatsoever. The two centre-forwards had to play, I doubt I could play David McGoldrick and Daryl Murphy every week at that intensity, the other two have to play.

“Freddie’s got to play, my left-back was injured, I couldn’t do anything about that, so there weren’t that many.

“Dean Gerken’s not had a great deal to do, what he’s done, he’s done OK and he’s picked the ball out of the net twice. No regrets at all, they’re first team players.”

There was more bad news for McCarthy with Jay Tabb going off injured in the first half: “Tabby’s hurt his shoulder, he thinks he might have got away with it, I hope that’s the case.

“We’ll see, I don’t know. He’s got it strapped up and in a sling at the moment. I’m hoping he’ll be OK.”

McCarthy had hoped for a cup run: “I am disappointed, I wanted to win the game, I said yesterday I didn’t want to come here and be beaten, I never do. But we are out of it and I am disappointed about losing a game.

“But it’s more disappointing that we’ve had a great crowd turn up again and we’ve been beaten twice away from home. It was disappointing that we didn’t get a goal because we had enough chances to score.”

The Blues boss gave credit to the League One side: “They’ve played well, I can’t knock them, they’ve played well have Stevenage and probably overall they deserved it.”

Photo: Action Images

bluefeast added 22:44 - Aug 6 Money is tight ,we need our players to fight ,we offer nothing to fright. Lets hope for more , we need the right score ,please don't bore . Some skill and vigour , will make us bigger , I write this letter as we MUST BUY BETTER.
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Norwichbeater added 22:45 - Aug 6 Hmmmmmm
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syntaxerror added 22:49 - Aug 6 League is whats important - to be honest while a win would have been nice, a loss is irrelevant as long as we put it right by beating Millwall
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Bezzer added 22:49 - Aug 6 MM certainly doesn't appear to be over the moon with our strikers "the other two have to play"! He makes it sound like desperate measures. Hey ho, same old story, no goal threat and no creativity in the squad, almost pointless commenting really.
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bluefeast added 22:49 - Aug 6 Midfield we need speed to do the deed. Create , be clever ,don't be dull like trevor. Defence shut up shop give nothing away , please don't play like a gay away day. Attack , shoot to score ,please excite do not bore. Gerkin , is that with chips and cod , studs caught in the ground where he trod.
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bigolconnor added 22:49 - Aug 6 Wow blue feast that was truly poetic.
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bigolconnor added 22:50 - Aug 6 Pathetic
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Mark added 22:52 - Aug 6 After the dark days of Keane, I didn't think we'd see Smith at left-back again. Such a shame to break up the Smith-Chambers central defensive partnership, although I understand wanting to give Berra a game and perhaps October isn't quite ready. Very disappointing. We need to see more from the new boys Skuse and Anderson I think. I am still worried about a lack of goals given the scoring record of our midfielders over recent seasons.

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bluefeast added 22:52 - Aug 6 Nouble was on fire from the palace game last season , what has happened to him . Tonight so poor which im gutted about. MM will not be happy as clearly the message is loud and clear. I would love to see Taylor and Magoldirck up front and us to play quick to feet football
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bluefeast added 22:55 - Aug 6 Are we actually better than anyone else in the championship , I think not. So here is for a long season with many days/nights like tonight. Sadly
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ManningtreeBlue99 added 22:55 - Aug 6 Gutted. Such a poor performance. Oh well, ITFC till I die I guess, not really feeling much passion tonight though.
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blue_beats_yellow added 22:56 - Aug 6 Last Saturday was unlucky, tonight disappointing. Despite the first two results, we need to actually get behind the team. On Saturday, when Reading got their second, our fans just sat there and did nothing. I'm confident we can do wel this season, it's such a tight league where a few wins can soon send you towards the play-offs. If we go a goal down on Saturday, let's actually try and get behind the team instead of moaning and going silent. We need to make the opposing teams fear us when they play at Portman Road. Let's get those 3 points on Saturday and get this season going! COYB!

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BigAlsMate added 22:57 - Aug 6 Not good enough. Simple
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ManningtreeBlue99 added 22:58 - Aug 6 bluefeast, maybe Middlesbrough they lost to Accrington Stanley
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bluefeast added 23:01 - Aug 6 Take a look at Middlesbrough signings and who they are in for today. Propery players including Bristol citys best player and Leeds best player.
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bluefeast added 23:02 - Aug 6 However , they could also struggle , but that 1 side ,we need 2 more please ..
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Michael11 added 23:05 - Aug 6 It's never nice to lose a game but I think people are making more of a deal out of it than necessary. If we go and thrash Millwall on Saturday then everyone will be talking about the Play-Off's again. The league is our bread and butter and i'm sure we'll see a 100% difference in performance on Saturday. Keep the faith!!
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theobald1985 added 23:10 - Aug 6 bluefeast other than maybe 3-4 sides the rest of the teams in the league are a much of a muchness as are the players that play for them. team spirit, tactics and luck decide what happens to the rest.
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ManningtreeBlue99 added 23:13 - Aug 6 Bluefeast- you have a real talent for poetry , does it come naturally?
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Jimmy86 added 23:18 - Aug 6 I guess its important to keep things in perspective a little bit. On the one hand winning breeds confidence and a good cup run will boost the somewhat dwindling coughers, changes were made and its the 2nd game of the season. But whatever way you look at it, getting beaten by a team in a lower league doesnt bode well and is unacceptable. Mick knows his best 11 but are they good enough if we get injuries/suspensions. We really lackcreativity in midfield, same as last year. Also think we need a goal scorer. Anyway bring in sat.

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Wickets added 23:23 - Aug 6 A little bit surprised we played 2 holding midfielders against a lower league side, although you would not have known thats what they where.
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StowTractorBoy added 23:25 - Aug 6 Just in - thank goodness it is only 72 miles away as that performance was poor and gives little encouragement for the season. What did we learn tonight - Vaselli is not good enough at the moment, Smith is not comfortable at left back. Anderson still not up to the mark and whilst Hyam and Skuse work hard none of them had a creative pass in them tonight. Nouble was a shadow of the player we saw last season and Taylor looked lively but why was he played behind the one lone striker ? We did look brighter when McGoldrick and Murphy came on but apart from a couple of chances we rarely threatened. Sorry to be a doom monger but a performances like that will see us in another struggle. It is only two games and no need to panic yet but this crop look worse than we had last season.

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ManningtreeBlue99 added 23:32 - Aug 6 Dear Marcus Evans I'm sure you want promotion, you'd love that £90 Million wouldn't you? We would certainly love it. Unfortunately that will no happen unless you invest some of your multi-millions. Not asking for too much. Maybe £1 Million needed to sign Richard Stearman. Yours sincerely every single Ipswich Town fan.
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itfc_price added 23:50 - Aug 6 WE have no left back, so Frankie had too play? that's bollocks, we had October, Hewitt, Edwards, Tabb which could also play there no excuses, poor tactics there. We lacked fire power and will power upfront, once again this is poor tactics. Let's think about it positively good performance against Reading on saturday is good, and we lost tonight in the micky mouse cup, Millwall on saturday is what we need too look too and progress from tonights performance.

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Akaroablue added 23:53 - Aug 6 Is scoring goals going to be our Achilles heal!!
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