McCarthy Disappointed With Defending Saturday, 23rd Nov 2013 18:21 Town boss Mick McCarthy was disappointed with the way his side conceded two goals as nemesis David Nugent struck twice for Leicester to see the Foxes come from behind to win 2-1 at Portman Road. The Town boss felt his players worked hard but was unhappy with both Nugent’s second-half goals: “There was no question about that, but they’ve punished us with two well-taken goals and our contribution to those goals was huge, I have to be honest. “But when it comes, Nugent’s first strike, how many players in this league would have finished that on the run when it when it was bouncing back to him? I don’t know. Great strike. “And the second one, it’s cobblers what we did in the build-up to it, tiny little error after error after error. “But they then punished us and that was the difference. If you do it against good teams, you’ll get beaten and that’s what’s happened.” It’s not the first time Town have fallen to a narrow defeat against one of the division’s top teams this season but McCarthy says it’s no consolation that his side are running the better sides close: “Someone just asked me whether I take comfort from that and, no, I don’t because we played well in the first half, it was a good performance. “I don’t think the shape of their team was causing us any problems, we’d done really well and probably had had an equal measure of it, more so because we had scored. I was really annoyed after that [because of the goals] we gave away. “The first one we’re closing the keeper down and it ends up in our net from an innocuous clearance. And the second one we’re in possession of the ball and attacking them and it ends up in our net. That’s not right.” Asked about Nugent’s remarkable record against Town, McCarthy joked: “I’m f------ delighted for him!” he joked. “Let’s hope they get promoted and then he can p--- off out of my sight, that’d be great that, wouldn’t it? We’d only have to play against him once more, wouldn’t we? “He’s a good player,” he added more seriously. “He’s a top class striker and in this league he’s one of the best.” As for his own striker David McGoldrick’s seventh goal of the season, a striker similar to several others he has netted at Portman Road this season, he added: “He scores goals, that’s the main thing.” The Blues boss felt Town had chances after they went behind and he’d been pleased with the way they began the second period: “We had a good header at the far post and we had chances before that. “I thought we started the second half really well, Tunners had a really good chance, it just got under his feet and he scuffed it a bit. “The goal came from us closing the goalkeeper down. Their keeper kicks it, he doesn’t make a good kick and it ends up in the middle of the park and then ends up in our net. That’s unacceptable, as good a finish as it was, we should have defended it better.” McCarthy says Town need to return to keeping clean sheets as regularly as they were at the end of last season: “We’ll have to try and get back to that. We’ve scored more goals, ironically, but they were good finishes, they made us pay, that was the difference.” Leicester boss Nigel Pearson, who was on crutches having undergone a knee operation in the week, said: “I thought in the first half we struggled to find any rhythm. I think their goal unsettled us a little bit, to concede so early in a game was a bit of a setback, but at 1-0 you’re always in it, especially with the players that we have. “We’ve got some pace within the side and I think in an away game in particular that gives you an added bonus because you can play counter-attacking football a bit more. “It was an interesting game, I think both sides tried to win it. I don’t think it was a cagey performance from either side, both sides tried to win. “We were disappointed with how we played in the first half because we made too many unforced errors and we looked a bit lacklustre, but in the second half we upped our game quite a bit and I think that allowed us to gain the three points.” Regarding match-winner Nugent, he added: “I think it’s 13 in 12 games [against Ipswich]. He obviously enjoys playing here. “Good finishes, he always looked dangerous, he attacked the box pretty well today and I know he’ll get the headlines in terms of getting the goals, but the most important thing for us is that we’ve won the game.”
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