Town boss Mick McCarthy admitted that losing 1-0 in extra-time was a painful manner to exit the Capital One Cup at Crawley. Izale McLeod netted the winner for the League One side in the 110th minute.

“It’s a painful way to go out,” McCarthy said. “I would prefer it not to have been in extra-time and Christophe Berra, Chambo and Elliott Hewitt not having another half an hour.

“What did I make of the performance? I thought bits of it were OK, I thought we had the chances to win the game, but we weren’t good enough, we didn’t score.”

The Blues had chances in the first half, most notably Frank Nouble’s opportunity from an Anthony Wordsworth pass, while McCarthy thought they should have made more of their dominance after the break.

“We had good spells in the second half when could have done better and didn’t. And by not doing so we let them off the hook a few times.

“And likewise the with the goal. Alex Henshall had a chance to put a ball in and it ends up as a corner kick for them instead of us, and they score from there. It was a tough way to go out.”

However, the Town manager took some pluses from the match, despite the loss: “Sometimes you come off the pitch and I’m asked whether I can take any positives out of it.

“Clarkey was absolutely outstanding, I thought Teddy Bishop did well and I thought Steve McQueen, Daz, when he came on did well, to be fair.

“I was really pleased with them and I’ve said to them that I’m disappointed that we haven’t got another game that they could have played in because I think they acquitted themselves really well.”

Bishop came close to winning it late on with a superb strike off the bar and McCarthy wonders whether Nouble should have scored from the rebound.

“[It would have been quite a winner], and then we had the follow-up as well. I haven’t seen it again yet to see whether he could have done better with it. He did well, Teddy’s a good player, I’m delighted with him.”

The Blues boss also had praise for widemen Henshall and Paul Taylor, although felt the ex-Peterborough striker should have scored: “I know what Tayls is about and I thought he could have done better with his chances.

"He opens the goal up and he misses the target completely, he tried to put it in the top corner. If you hit the target you might get a rebound, but he did brilliantly to get in that position and then you just want to hit the target.

“I thought Alex Henshall did well, he’s a work in progress, he’s just a kid who has come from Manchester City and I think we’ll get something out of him. I’m pleased with him.”

McCarthy says Taylor’s situation hasn’t changed: “No, not really, he’s still available for loan or for transfer.”

The Town manager was also pleased with central defenders Berra and skipper Luke Chambers, although wasn’t happy that they had put in such a lengthy shift: “I think they just make us solid, they’re outstanding, the pair of them. I just wish they hadn’t have had 120 minutes today, that wasn’t in the plan.”

Ex-loanee Jonny Williams was spotted in the crowd, but McCarthy says nothing ought to be read into it: “He asked for a couple of tickets and I said he could have two tickets and a fiver out of the till if he wants, no problem there.

“He came to watch the game, I think he’s fairly local. That’s not even a story. I can give you one answer one way or the other and you can make a story out of it.

“He’s come to watch the game, I’ve not had any discussions about him with anybody else. He’s come to watch his mates play, I would imagine.”

Photo: Action Images

blueherts added 10:17 - Aug 13 Move on - youngsters got a good run out and better experience than playing in ressies Saturday was the benchmark , this is and never was Good luck to Crawley What I would say is we do need a finisher - as a back up to Didsy Marriott has great potential , but need an experienced 'jonnie on the spot' Thanks Frank - maybe TC and MM will start to see now Next two games are the REAL TEST and I am confident we will get results

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goleszowski added 10:22 - Aug 13 don't worry about a finisher, we've re-signed Priskin
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OhDavidMcGoaldrick added 10:43 - Aug 13 Wish we would keep taylor, a really talented player that can play the Mcgoldrick role! Need to keep our crearive players...
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phillo added 11:17 - Aug 13 First time on here so be kind ! :) I think the problem is that we would all (mostly!) accept that we are unlikely to win this cup so with a small squad & the financial constraints we operate under it is no bad thing to go out early ...... however ..... I am also pretty sure that we would all (secretly !) love to see us progress & believe that if we are to do something positive in the league this year we should really be able to field a mostly second string side that could see off this level of opposition .... if only in that these sort of games should give us an indication of what sort of backup we have should injuries strike (a la Didsy end of last year). So I think it is the indication of our squad depth that is most worrying here ... not necessarily the result or end of cup run. There done it ...... awaiting the abuse now !

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Lord_Mac added 11:57 - Aug 13 @phillo - FWI, I agree with you! I think MM picked the right team - and a team good enough to have won the match. That we didn't was down to missed chances. Nouble alone should have had a hat-trick within 90 minutes. I cant believe how 800+ Town fans turn up to a match which is £10 entry and then think we'll risk our strongest team against Crawley! With 45 league matches to come, for us this was little more than a pre-season friendly, nothing more nor less. That said, it was good to see the potential (or otherwise) of the fringe players. I didn't think Bru was that impressive myself, but I did think Matt Clarke at left back looked good. Bishop and McQueen also caught the eye in their short cameos. Henshall has pace but seems rather lightweight and, like Taylor, always tried to beat one person too many. Hewitt and Wordsworth also fairly average. Marriott and Bajner were invisible.

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TimmyH added 13:30 - Aug 13 Perhaps we should notify the Football Association that we're not bothering with the competition in future years and that way we can be saved from all the retterick from Mick before and after the game. As we all know Mick probably says words in the dressing room to the effect of 'try your best lads, look like your trying to win the game but it doesn't matter if we don't go through, by all accounts no hard tackles as we don't need injuries otherwise I'll have to get TC to put his boots on and don't worry even if we lose I'll praise you after to the press'.

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J4ck22 added 14:05 - Aug 13 If you'te one of those complaining about spending your money to go see it, what on earth were you expecting? We all knew that the team would be completely different and full of youth/reserve players so you can't really be surprised about the result can you? Also, nice to see Nouble being used as the usual scapegoat, even when messiahs Taylor and Marriott having an equally/worse game yet get no mention whatsoever. It's just a cup game which has no benefits of progressing at all, it's a bit of a joke these days... Glad we're out early tbh.

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TimmyH added 14:17 - Aug 13 Makes me laugh that some on here talking as if we're Manchester United in the early throws of a competition..unfortunately we're not, I don't know why they don't abolish the competition altogether or just leave it to the league 1 and 2 teams and maybe the conference as well. A club struggling for money...I wonder how much a run in this would get us financially? but it seems now year on year we get knocked out 1st round by teams more up for it than us and that's whether we put a 'reserve' side out or fairly strong first team.

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bingboast added 19:11 - Aug 13 Do these moaning minnies really claim to be fans of Ipswich Town? They are trophy hunters, the same breed as those that demanded buy. buy buy, & took us to by Fenidi George et al & administration. Run away, follow Chelsea or Man U.
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JoeDickerson420 added 10:35 - Aug 14 i think if we won 45 out of the 46 games this year there would still be a handfull of complaints? Carling cup is just a big distraction from 'OUR' real goal this year.. PROMOTION? im just glad it was the 1st round not the 4th/5th etc.. could do with having a fully fit players and saving any more chances of injurys. and from the commentary it sounded as if the youngsters all had a good game between them. good learning experience for them, gives us a chance to get a view at thier potential. and if MM started the same 11 from saturday, wouldnt we all be saying 'Noooo save them for Reading'? peace

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