Boss Mick McCarthy felt that while it was difficult to take the Blues losing to local rivals Norwich City, there was no disgrace in how his side played against the recently relegated former Premier League side. Lewis Grabban's 24th minute goal was enough to give the Canaries the victory.

“It was a hard-fought game,” McCarthy said. “They had the goal and we didn’t. It changed the course of it, as it always does.

“It changed the momentum, I thought they were better than us for 10 minutes after that and being one in front allowed them in the second half to try and catch us on the break, which they almost did a couple of times.

“But we had a gilt-edged chance when we were playing well through Daryl Murphy. He’s just looked at it and he knows he should have scored.”

He had no complaints regarding his team's endeavour: “The effort and commitment is always there from the players.

“I thought we rushed it and tried to get back in the game too much, we didn’t have too much quality in the first half. In the second half we were better.

“But we were playing against a good team, a team that’s come down from the Premier League with good players in it and has signed some good players.

“They’ve got a good squad, it’s no disgrace how we played against them, it’s just difficult when it’s our nearest and not so dearest.”

McCarthy says he always expected the opening few games of the season to be tough: “When I looked at the fixtures when they came out I didn’t think for a minute that Fulham at home, Reading away, Birmingham away and Norwich at home was going to be easy. I always thought it was going to be hard and that’s how it’s proved to be.”

Regarding Norwich’s goal, he said: “Somebody shouted ‘keeper’s’, I don’t know who shouted it. I haven’t got an ear-piece into the six-yard box to find out whether it was and who said it, but no other player should shout it except Gerks."

He added: “It wasn’t Gerks, Skusey’s marking Grabban, so I don’t know, might have been Grabban that shouted it, could have done. None of our players should shout that."

“It certainly looked like a mix-up. We didn’t deal with it well enough. We dealt with the first corner kick but we didn't deal with the ball coming back in.”

Despite Christophe Berra being on the floor not far from goal when Grabban scored, the video evidence still suggested that the goalscorer may have been offside, however, McCarthy was more concerned with his team’s defensive failings.

“If [it does still look offside] then it’ll give me something to whinge about,” he continued. “But in reality we didn’t deal with it. I’m not blaming the officials and I think if you look you’ll find that Berra and Michael Turner are lying on the floor about one yard out.

“I’ve got complaints about how we dealt with it, not how anybody refereed it, which is unusual for a manager.”

He admits he’s been less than happy with the goals his side has given away in the last couple of matches: “In the last three games we’ve conceded very poor goals from our point of view.

“It’s not like we’ve conceded as a back four that can’t defend, it’s been individual errors, the one at Reading, the two at Birmingham and the one today, so we’ll have to get better.

He says he expects the Canaries to be amongst the promotion challengers come May: “We’ve played a team today which will be competing at the top with an opportunity. Without a doubt, they’ve got a very good squad.”

Asked about the very different budgets Town and Norwich - recipients of £60 million in parachute payments over the next four years - are forced to work within, McCarthy added: “Financial Fair Play, that’s bollocks, isn’t it?

“We’re operating within it and they’ve just got a different Financial Fair Play [situation], as have Fulham and the other teams who have come down. It makes it all the more rewarding when you do well without it. And that’s what we’re going to have to do.”

Norwich boss Neil Adams believed his team was worthy of the victory: “It was a well-deserved win.

“I thought we needed to be better in the first half. I said to the players at half-time that we didn’t really move the ball as quickly or as effectively as we’re capable of.

“Even though we were winning the game, I still felt we could have been a little bit better.

“To the lads’ credit they did step it up more in the second half. I thought defensively throughout the game we were excellent and we probably could have gone and added another two goals in the second half.

“We missed some good chances but it was good to restrict Ipswich to few chances if any at all. Overall I thought we deserved to win the game and I’m delighted with the victory.”

Adams apologised for failing to shake hands with McCarthy and his assistant Terry Connor after the match.

“I want to apologise to Mick and Terry,” he said. “I was out of order I didn’t shake their hands. Completely unintentionally, I was too caught up in the moment, so hopefully you’ll all report that.

“I realised when I was on the pitch that that was out of order and I should have shown more respect to them and shaken their hands before I went off on my celebrations. Hand on heart it wasn’t intentional.

“I wouldn’t have been too happy if that had been flipped, so big apologies to Mick and Terry, they’re good people and I apologise unreservedly for forgetting to shake their hands at the final whistle.

“Terry actually came onto the pitch and shook my hand and I realised then I’d forgotten and thought ‘I’ve made a big mistake here’.

“My fault, it certainly wasn’t intended and hopefully they’ll accept that with the grace that they have. I was out of order, not intentionally, I just forgot.

“I don’t want to argue with Mick, there’s only going to be one winner there, isn’t there?”

Questioned about the incident and Adams’s apology, McCarthy said: “He should have [shaken hands]. Sky have just asked me and I said it’s nothing to do with them whether he shook my hand or not.

“Whether they show that or not I don’t know. I tend to deal with my matters with other managers individually and on my own.”

He added: “He’s got a good team, they’re a good side and they’d just beaten us and if it’s a lesson in etiquette then the first person he shakes hands with [should be] me and [then] with TC.

“I’ve had to do it, I’ve had to do it at Leicester when we’ve been beaten 6-0 and 5-0 [at Palace] and that’s what you do. If that’s a lesson today, then fine.”

Photo: Action Images

Tonyitfc82 added 19:31 - Aug 23 Very dissapointing game. Apart from Mings and maybe Hyam everyone else was way below average. MM is working wonders in my opinion with the bunch of players he has available to him. He simply cant do anything till he can start and get players in on loan from PL. Jay Tab was absolutely useles. The worst player in town shirt. To short, to slow. If MM has the money available to spend then he will do it but unfortunately there isnt any. Thats not his fault. The team gave everything they had. Still very early days though. Only 4 points off playoffs and 6 points off top!

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roytheboy added 19:40 - Aug 23 Watching us back passing and side passing is becoming very irritating, especially when we are behind with little time left on the clock to put things right, we have to sign a striker with real quality to compliment Mc'Goldrick (who I thought was not at his best today) and our midfield must be a much more attacking unit, having said that I do support Mick still, I just hope that he reads at least some of these postings and gets the message which is being clearly offered by the supporters.

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delias_cheesy_flaps added 19:44 - Aug 23 P*SS POOR
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JimInGreensboro added 19:56 - Aug 23 We gave them too much space, our through balls had too much pace, our attacks were lob-and-chase, our corners were all over the place, our shots hit fans in the face and we lost to the scum in our place, but to Mick's case, it was "no disgrace" and we should all be glad it's a 46 match race.
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irishtim added 20:00 - Aug 23 Respect to all comments but with the transfer fund MM has can we expect anything else? Don't think so. Unless ME backs MM we remain where we are. Looking for a change of manager is not going to change much. We have not got the quality of players required.
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jpring89 added 20:01 - Aug 23 i cant believe how sh1t our team has got we never looked like scoring today this team wouldnt get out of league 1 let alone championship with this team. that wasnt football i watched today more like tw@tball. mings was the best player by a mile today. mick you will not/never get us promoted because your style of football is the worst ive ever seen.
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NoelTheDub added 20:01 - Aug 23 Tonyitfc82.. The players MM has available to him are his signed or players that he choose to keep at our club,and dont forget the ones he dumped out.That was sad to see today and the book stops at the manager as always.Its the refusal to get a proper RB play Parr a solid LB and take out his babies TABBY AND SKUSEY they have had their chances.What a difference a Hoolihan type player makes them look good at the back and look a the amount of balls he put up to the strikers can say any more pal..

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alfromcol added 20:02 - Aug 23 A load of grafters with no quality. Come MM sort it out. Lots of "casual" supporters who won't turn up again in a hurry.
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alfromcol added 20:05 - Aug 23 Organisation is poor on and off the pitch!!!! Long queues for drinks and food before the start and at half-time in Sir Alf stand. Surely the club knew there might be a few more people there today? ITFC missed a great chance to make even more money out of the punters.
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BlueArmy01 added 20:16 - Aug 23 This must be the most Dull and boring Ipswich team ever and seeing I saw the John Duncan era that is saying something.............
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wark_on_water added 20:35 - Aug 23 Jeez Mick, we were lucky to get 'nil' - been a supporter of you in the past but doesn't it show you that with quick incisive passing and committing men forward, our one decent attack second half resulted in that guilt edged chance? Imagine if we play a big more I that vain more of the time!!!!!
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tractorkent added 20:44 - Aug 23 i feared it would be like this, boring football from a boring manager
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WashbrookBlue added 20:46 - Aug 23 Copied and pasted from Rotherham site... Paul Taylor was a standout performer in the newly-worn white away kit this afternoon, creating the goal amongst a number of other chances and Evans was quick to praise him and a number of his teammates including debutant Anthony Wordsworth who has followed a number of former Ipswich men to New York Stadium. “He's been terrific every day I've seen him, he was at Peterborough which is why he went for £1.5million to Ipswich Town. He was good there but these teams have big squads and we're always on the lookout for good players wherever they are. We've got Loachy, Pau Taylor and now Anthony Wordsworth now from Ipswich but I don't mid where they play. We'll take them off the moon from Martian FC if they're good enough to play for us. Paul's always a player we've liked and we convinced him to come here and he was excellent today but it was amongst a number of other big performances today and an overall excellent team performance.” Can you imagine such a quote if either Tabb, Skuse, Nouble or Anderson had started for Rotherham today........?!

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tractorkent added 20:47 - Aug 23 how many more times am I going to read about creativityin midfield until it dawns on our manager thats what we have been crying out for.
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slaughteredskipper added 20:56 - Aug 23 As I see it we as a fan base love Didsy and believe he is our talisman but actually he should be the standard that all our players meet. With the exception of maybe Christophe Berra, today aside, I'm not sure any of the rest of our squad meet that standard, which is why we will continue to struggle mid table for the foreseeable future.
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LWNR2013 added 21:05 - Aug 23 Agree with almost every post so far. That interview was nonsense. Had I paid £35+ today I think it would be a long time before I came back. I could not believe OTT policing outside and OTT stewardship inside the ground. On my way to SBR I saw young kids with their parents having to hike the full perimeter of the ground to get into SAR. But worse than that I witnessed an elderly couple by Drum and Monkey that were totally bewildered and distraught that their (I'm guessing here) usual access route to Portman Road was closed to them - the gentleman had conspicuous mobility difficulties - god knows how he got to the match??!! All of the above = attrocious Customer Experience (IMO) ... a Marcus Evans business model? I thought the players worked hard and honestly as always but mostly they are not good enough. ITID

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kerryblue added 21:07 - Aug 23 Have to agree with Tractorcam ,with the exception of Hyam and Mings the rest showed no battle,no commitment and no balls,the likes of Tabb,Skuse,Anderson totally lacking and not bloody good enough,this was a derby and we let them win our patch gutted and to listen to Mccarthy and his excuses yet again makes me sick,as I said last week SORT IT OUT MICK
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bluemagic74 added 21:12 - Aug 23 I have no words even these are 2 much.
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Simonds92 added 21:15 - Aug 23 Not good enough Mick.
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muccletonjoe added 21:34 - Aug 23 We need this we need that, we should have this we should have that. I would love a new Aston Martin but unfortunately I have the same trouble as mick buying players. Can't afford them. Untill someone comes up with some way around that fact - what is the point of this endless blathering?
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LWNR2013 added 21:38 - Aug 23 muccletonjoe - isn't that what you just did?
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JWM added 21:50 - Aug 23 Judging by watching that rubbish today and at Crawley why do most of you think it will be mid table at best? Relegation scrap is being far more realistic!
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jonnysuave added 21:52 - Aug 23 Why does anyone waste either their time or money watching that sh1te week in week out. Non league now for me. I don't mind the lack of success, its just the complete lack of creativity and entertainment.
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loudnproud added 22:00 - Aug 23 Mick? Im sorry fella....Your after match comments are a disgrace to the hard working pre paying football fan that still shells out every week to witness the dross you are serving.... The biggest game on the itfc calendar and you "be little" it!!! Fans deserve respect too.
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blue_moon09 added 22:03 - Aug 23 On the ball city , Easy 3 points today. Love it There are so many wanna be football managers on this site, maybe you should take over from MM when he leaves. Love it enjoy your relegation battle...... BFN - another easy 3 points in February...
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