Boss Mick McCarthy urged fans to get behind midfielder Luke Hyam after the academy product was booed by sections of the home support during the 1-1 draw with Watford.

The 22-year-old, who had a lump on his head after an aerial clash, missed a late chance to win the game but had previously received stick from his own supporters after an earlier pass had gone astray, leading McCarthy to remonstrate with fans behind the dug-out.

“Leave him alone, he’s running around with a bloody lump on his head like that, he’s a local lad, we’re trying to get category one, we want 50 per cent of our players from our academy and he was getting the bird and I don’t like it.

“And he was getting the bird, let me tell you, so I got the hump, I don’t like it. Support our players. When you’re having a tough time, that’s when you need somebody to go and pat you on the back and say ‘Come on’ and cheer him on.

“I would love him to have scored the winner, for our three points but also for him because he’s such a great lad. He tries his things off every week. He would have scored but for that big egg on his head. At half-time I thought he might have been concussed but he was all right.”

The Town boss has a lot of time for former Northgate High School pupil Hyam’s attitude and approach: “Brilliant, he hasn’t said anything, he’s all right, it’s me that’s got the hump, it’s me that gets angry about it because if you’re in my tent you’re inside pissing out, not outside pissing in and I want my players and our fans in this tent making it hard for the opposition.

“Be hostile towards them not towards us. I want them to be partisan and hostile but to the others in the other coloured shirts, not our players, don’t give them the bird.”

However, after the game, Hyam tweeted his frustrations: “I love haters so keep on hating.”

Overall, McCarthy thought his team would have been worthy of all three points: “I thought we just about deserved to win the game on the second half.

“The cross from which they scored was a deflection but they’ve got Troy Deeney, who is Johnny-on-the-Spot, he’s on the move in the box and he gets there first.

“[Almunia] makes a good save off Dids at the end and I think the header came off the egg on Luke’s head, he’s got a lump on his forehead like that.

“We probably [deserved to win it] but in the end I’d take the point. Last year they came here and played 3-5-2 and murdered us so I think it shows how far we’ve come.

“He’s set them up the same today, I think their players know that, they’re comfortable with it and they’re a good side. They’ve got good players, they were in the play-offs last year.”

The Blues manager explained why he didn’t use any of his subs: “My experience of those sorts of thing is that you can make the substitution and it can win you the game and it can lose you the game and we were doing fine.

“It was a deflected cross that drops for Deeney, but it’s a good goal by him. With the same players on we perhaps should have won it at the end. But I wasn’t prepared to change it and lose it. I’ll take the point, another point and we’ll march on.

“We asked the two midfield players to get forward and make runs in the second half, which they weren’t doing in the first, they were all coming looking for the ball. It improved us, it stretched them and we got further forward better.”

The Town boss said he didn’t see the penalty incident: “My view was non-existent, I haven’t seen it now and I’m not doing a ‘I haven’t seen it, the wind was blowing, I’d got sunglasses on, the sun was in my eyes' and all that, I haven’t seen it.

“Whether it is and it isn’t we’ve had some good decisions and some bad decisions. The referee thought it was, didn’t he? And you can rely on Dids, can’t you?”

McCarthy didn’t blame Christophe Berra for Troy Deeney’s equaliser: “He got a big contract last year, him and Vydra were outstanding last year. It was a striker who was on the move and it falls to him.

“On another day Christophe might block it, but he didn’t so and overall maybe they deserved a point, we weren’t that dominant, although I thought we were in the second half. He squeezes past him and it goes in at the near post, it happens unfortunately. Big Christophe was different class.”

The Blues boss explained what appeared to be a touchline clash with Watford head coach Giuseppe Sannino: “Far from it, that’s a real misconception, you’ve got that really wrong. I was telling the fourth official to shut up and leave him alone.

“The poor fella’s just come in, he’s been in English football for three days, he’s stepped out of the box, well f--- me! He kept on about how the linesman can’t run up and down.

“But it wasn’t like ‘Sit down’ or ‘Get out of there’, it was ‘Stand in your box or I’m going to send you to the stand’. I heard that and went ‘You what? Do me a favour, let’s make him welcome!’.

“But I think some of their bench misconstrued what I was saying, so somebody said something to me and I said ‘I’m trying to help him, I’m on his side, shut the f--- up!’.

So I did have a bit of a ding-ding but it was with somebody else. I was trying to be nice to him and they were giving out to me. My usual suave sophisticated style!”

In Sannino’s press conference, Hornets’ head of medical Marco Cesarini, who was acting as his translator, admitted responsibility for misunderstanding McCarthy’s position.

The Town boss is a fan of his Watford counterpart: “I like him, I like his passion for it, he was up on the side, he set up his team, they were well organised. I think he’s got a good group of players that he’s come into, I don’t think Gianfranco’s left under any sort of a cloud.

“They’ve not been beaten away from home. He’s got a good group. I liked him and he had a smile on his face.”

Overall, McCarthy felt there were positives to be taken from the match: “How we competed, I thought Tunnicliffe was excellent, I thought Frank was.

“I think Frank’s been excellent from three games ago and the crowd have taken to him. He’s full of running and full of energy, I think he’s done really well.

“I’ll take the point, that’s a positive, what are we, five unbeaten? Three wins, two draws, 11 out of 15 points

“It doesn’t matter where you get them you just keep picking up the points, I thought it was a good performance second half, so I think there were lots of positives.”

Sannino, who said he’d been dreaming of working in England, wouldn’t comment on the penalty: “I’m the type of coach who accepts the decision of the referee, so I have nothing to say about that. Even if we we’d lost 1-0 I would say the same.”

Photo: Action Images

blueboy1981 added 13:44 - Dec 24 Warkys Tash - ....... is using the word 'moron' part of YOUR season of goodwill ?? - shame some of you have to resort to such words to make your point - isn't it ?
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