Mick McCarthy was pleased with his side’s performance but not their defending after the 3-1 home defeat to Wigan Athletic. James McClean scored twice and Leon Barnett once for the visitors after Tommy Smith had put the Blues in front.

“I thought we played well, I’m really pleased with the lads but we just didn’t defend particularly well,” he said. “Certainly for the first one, we contributed to their goal.

“The second one, it isn’t like us defending a freekick like that and the third one it’s as plain as the nose on my face that Greeny’s lost it and they’ve broken on us. The difference was that they were clinical enough to punish us, and they’re a good team.”

At 1-1 Luke Hyam had a good chance to put Town back in front and McCarthy felt the game might have been different had the opportunity been taken: “I know they had a player injured, apparently, but you’ve got to finish them, score the goal and argue about it afterwards.

“I think that let them off the hook. And then conceding the goal just before half-time from the freekick as well.

“But I’m pleased with the way we’ve played, I’ve not been in there and been angry with them. People make mistakes but my lads are such an honest bunch, they try their hearts out.

"It happens, it just depends whether the team you’re playing against has got the ability to punish you, and they did.”

With Wigan having dropped out of the Premier League last season, the two clubs have very different budgets but McCarthy says he just gets on with the job and doesn’t whine about other bosses’ greater resources.

“There is a disparity, of course there is, but do you ever hear me come in and complain about that?” he said. “Our lads, my lads are brilliant and me and TC get the best out of them and they’ve been fantastic.

“We will keep on scrapping to get in that top six and who knows? They’re a good side and when we’ve contributed to the opportunities they’ve managed to score.

“In the second half we needed it to stay at 2-1, who knows we may well have got something but we gifted them a goal.”

He admits the loss has made reaching the top six tough but he’s not giving up: “It has [made it difficult but] it’s not impossible, is it?

“I’d settle for playing like that against the others but defending better, which has been a really strong point of ours, to be fair, so I’m not going to beat anybody up for that.

“There were some pluses. I thought Jonny Williams was terrific, but he’d run his race after 80 minutes as he’s not been playing at that level.”

Wigan manager Uwe Rosler was delighted with his team’s eighth win on the trot in all competitions: “I’m very pleased with the victory and pleased with the performance and the level that we have shown again.

“I think everybody who was on the pitch today put in an at least seven out of 10 performance and that is what we need in this league to be where we want to be.

“We knew what we would face. I was a bit surprised that Mick had only played one striker, we had prepared for two.

“We knew about the style of play and we coped with it very well. The first goal was unnecessary, I felt, but we responded very well.

“It was very important that we bounced back straight away. The first goal and the third goal were exactly how we wanted to play.

“They squeezed us, they wanted to play on the second ball, so they had to stay high up with their back four and the plan was to go in beyond them.

“We did that very well and the first and third goals were examples of how we wanted to play. I’m very happy that the players performed at such a consistent level.”

Photo: Action Images

meekreech added 19:57 - Mar 15 hancockingoal we had more shots on goal than them and only some lucky blocks and deflections saved them ! you must have been asleep for most of the match ,
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hancockingoal added 20:03 - Mar 15 Where were you Meekreech? I was wide awake at Portman road!
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AbujaBlue added 20:03 - Mar 15 Clearly by playing 4-4-1-1 Uwe Rosler was fooled and there were times in the match I thought it might pay dividends, but unfortunately sloppiness in defense made that not so. Oh well, onwards and upwards (or horizontal at least?) A lot of people here seem to have incredibly short memories. Guess what? This is not FM2014 or FIFA where you can keep re-loading until we win. Instant success is not always guaranteed. We are in the top half of the division and that is a massive improvement from past seasons, so take one step at a time.

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JWM added 20:13 - Mar 15 Abuja I completely agree with you but the big problem with some people is that they expect to see champagne football on a brown ale budget! They say the truth hurts but I along with many other level headed supporters have been able to see the bigger picture and can see that enormous progress has been made. It will take a couple of seasons for us to get to where we want to be and this is certain if Evans decides once again to not back Mick with any serious money in the Summer. When will people on here actually wake up to the reality and the truth of the situation! If we are to compete with the other big teams we have to spend some money and allow Mick to get on with the job.

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JWM added 20:15 - Mar 15 * toys is not certain if Evans doesn't spend any money! Bloody iPad
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TimmyH added 20:16 - Mar 15 @blueblood66 - I could give you statistics that prove we haven't made progress this season compared to Mick's tenure last season but I really couldn't be bothered.
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Count_Arthur added 20:18 - Mar 15 Yes Wigan didn't have that many shots on goal but the fact is three of them went past old Grizzly Adams. Loachey kept a clean sheet against Blackpool yet for some reason he's second choice. And forget the shaky defence and lacklustre midfield the simple truth of the matter is our strikers ain't striking!
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JWM added 20:28 - Mar 15 Truth hurts does it Blueboy....
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Keaneish added 20:29 - Mar 15 Completely agree Timmy H or if we had to play a 4-4-1 then surely Taylor on the right, Williams on the left Murphy in the hole and Ebanks Blake up front would have been better…?? Plenty of attacking endeavour there... Anderson and Hunt can't get by players and were largely ineffective as much as they tried. What a shower that was.
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blueboy1981 added 20:31 - Mar 15 JWM .......... genuinely, and sincerely I hope you are right that in the 'couple of seasons' you mention we are where we want to be. But if you know anything about building a succesful team, you will indeed know that what we are CURRENTLY seeing is not seeing us heading in the right direction - if we do not now bring our young players back off loan and play them, hence development within, then there will be even further evidence of this. We are of course better off in terms of League position than we were last season, and needed to be, but that is not the be all and end all of it. Structurally, and performance wise we are not stabilising in terms of positional play, perssonel etc; - where do 'loan' players come into the equation when building for the future ? IF we are 'where we want to be' in a couple of seasons - I will willingly, and gladly, admit to being wrong - and for all our locked horns on here - even offer to buy you a pint. Time will tell on who's right.

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10dackj added 20:35 - Mar 15 Drop gerkin now! 3rd goal was just hopeless... I've seen Trees be more threatening then their header :(
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blueboy1981 added 20:35 - Mar 15 JWM ......... truth is never a problem to me - I welcome it on all fronts, and in everything - as it should be.
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10dackj added 20:40 - Mar 15 Poor!
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Hiltzkooler added 20:40 - Mar 15 It isn't the loosing that winds me up...certainly Wigan are on a roll and have some quality...but MM when are your tactics going to play to our strengths, as opposed to your one dimensional, long past it, oh so dated tactics... A one trick pony would have done better today with what was available...
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JWM added 20:44 - Mar 15 Fair play Blueboy I will happily have a pint or three with you anytime. For all the bitching we are passionate about our club at the end of the day but I guess we just have different ideas and opinions on how we can achieve success for ITFC.
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smithy91 added 20:45 - Mar 15 agreed Hiltz, which is the point i was getting across earlier! People seem to think we want mick out just because we said something against him, but in reality its more a revision of the balance of the team and recruiting quality in midfield so we are able to run the game our way without worrying about countering the opposition system
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billlm added 20:49 - Mar 15 not going to read these comments before I comment,aside Reading I was away easily the best team at pr this season clinical work unit with a bit of flair a premiership team tbh, with all the guile and tricks like fall down at important times roll around like a woos when it matters hold the game up when under the cosh,proffeshilism,that said I thought one of our better home performances of the season liked the line up bit disappointed we workrd hard to score only to give it up so easily second goal is gerkin really our number 1 dark thought there, Williams outstanding should have kept him on with taylor or started taylor with him stand out performer oh god end of my thoughts could go all night, stop the negativity mm we have the personal oh hyam well out of his depth x

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biddyboy added 20:52 - Mar 15 Think it would be easy for me to blame tactical inconsistency, lack of funds and broken promises from the higher reaches of our beloved club but honestly feel for the first time in a number of years we have made forward steps this season. I look to your wigans and your Southamptons with a touch of envy and the hope that one day we can be as sucessful and truly believe we will. Remember under pj and the debacle of losing 6-0 at a club of blackpools stature??? It was honestly the end of a huge line of a huge bloody joke..............cup half full guys we were beaten by a club with premier league finances yes but they're owned by a guy who lives and breathes his belief in them and coached by imo one of the best up and coming coaches working in this country.................onwards and upwards and keep the faith!!!!

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blueboy1981 added 20:54 - Mar 15 JWM ........ absolutely - the Club needs passionate, committed followers - and most of all we all need belief in what's going on. Because we all care about our Club - and always will.
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floridaboy added 21:28 - Mar 15 Lets be perfectly honest here people. If we were lucky enough to go up we would need a brand new squad because the current one is so not good enough. We struggle against average sides in this division, just think what Man city would do with this current team. For me the players are playing for championship football next season and a decent wage too boot. There is not ONE of our current squad who would cut it in the top division. Anyone who believes there are any lives in a fantasy world

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muccletonjoe added 22:01 - Mar 15 I think there are many people out of there depth on here. Maybe you can recognise a football at a push but you wouldn't know a footballer from a sumo wrestler. What a fantastic job mr murphy did today - same as the previous 3 games assists - nil , shots on target - nil , shots off target - nil. Did Someone say he is a striker ?
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irishtim added 22:50 - Mar 15 For God's sake we are a long way from premiership. We will get there under MM. Give him time . It may not be pretty at the moment but as i have said before stick with MM and things will get alot better. Change now and go back 10 years. Just hang in guys. We are getting there. Wait & see. Irish Tim.
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phantom added 04:11 - Mar 16 So many deluded fans on twtd. 3 managers now and still no natural right back. This is no reflection on chambers but seriously its stupidity management like this is why we are where we are. Just a few facts mick doesn't want the youth set up. his words " i can do with out the youth players they are an unnecessary distraction" We have an so called under 21 system that mick chooses to play hasbeens and OAPS IN like Alan lee for gods sake. Wigan while a good side we made them look better with another inept one speed display. For me knowing what i know mick can go and take Evans with him. I'd rather go backwards knowingly than sideways and backwards with those at the club.

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bluefeast added 07:20 - Mar 16 Agree apart from evans ,he has put millions in and its not worked for him in the same way its not worked for us. However this is the entertainment business and what im watching is not entertainment ,its one speed one dimensional boring very poor level of technical ability football .
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Simonds92 added 07:28 - Mar 16 Funnily enough I thought we played ok, 3 individual errors cost us but it's annoying to play well against the teams that are in truth better than us just like the qpr game. If we put in performances like that against the middlesboroughs and black pools we would be in a much healthier position. Surely Mick can't keep backing Gerken it's mistake after mistake. If he does his job properly then Barnett wouldn't have scored a header knee height in the six yard box because Gerken should have claimed it and been looking to counter, could have been a different outcome if he had...

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