Town boss Mick McCarthy was delighted with the way his side started their home victory over Rotherham, although was less impressed with the performance once the Blues had gained their 2-0 lead.

“It was a great start,” he said. “Whatever happened after that I’ve no idea but it was 2-0, so the opposition has to take chances and push players forward.

“I don’t know what happens, I’ll look at it in the morning and analyse it. We won, that’s the most important thing.”

He felt Rotherham played well: “I thought they were excellent. They kept going as I knew they would, I’ve said all week that it might turn out to be our hardest game and it turned out to be.

“I don’t think too many other frontmen have caused our back four as many problems in the air as they did and they managed to keep it in there.

“I thought they played well and I’m not trying to be patronising. But they conceded two goals to us, and that’s the name of the game.”

“[They didn’t really create too many clear-cut chances, although] I know they’re screaming about a couple of penalties. I haven’t looked at them again to know whether they are or they aren’t.

“But I’ve been there myself where I think we should have had something. It’s one of them when I’m pragmatic about it. We scored the two goals, whether that’s by good luck or good management of the game - by the players on the pitch not me - that’s what’s happened. Whatever the reason, that’s the reality.”

He added: “It’s a bonkers game when you consider we were two up. If the third one had gone in when Conor had gone round the keeper just after half-time it’s different. That maybe gave them hope and they kept playing.”

Having switched his formation ahead of Monday’s win at Wigan, the Town manager made more changes today and again reaped the rewards.

“It won’t always [come up trumps], you’ve got to be careful,” he added. “We’ve had a good time but maybe we’ve maybe carried a bit of luck at times when we’ve needed it.

“But we’ve played well and to gain momentum you’ve got to play well, which we have done.”

Once again, strike pair Daryl Murphy and David McGoldrick were the men on target.

“I think they’re a good partnership," McCarthy said. "I’m not going to rate them as to where they are. The end of the season will tell that, how many goals they’ve got between the pair of them. At the moment they’re playing well.”

He believes McGoldrick is back to his best after his six-month spell on the sidelines with a knee injury: “Looks like it to me! He played on Monday and he’s getting through.

“I just thought we needed some fresh legs on, we were 2-0 up and he’s had a long time out of it.

“We’ve got one of the best strikers in the league, arguably, and we didn’t need to score another goal. He’s fine, he’s OK.”

Unusually, McGoldrick scored his goal with his left foot, although McCarthy wasn’t too surprised that that was the case: “He’s got two good feet, he’s just got one better than the other! It was a good strike, he hit it with good pace. A terrific strike.”

With rumours continuing to circulate regarding Jonny Williams's possible return on loan from Crystal Palace, Town managing director Ian Milne, speaking to Life’s a Pitch on Radio Suffolk at lunchtime, hinted that there could be a further addition to McCarthy’s squad soon - “Watch this space. Just wait and see, but I think so. I’m not going to say who” - but McCarthy says that’s not the case.

“What’s he doing conducting press conferences before the game?” he said. “I thought that was my job!

“No, listen, our lads are flying, I’m not looking for anybody. I was asked that question the other day.”

He added: “But if they want to send him in a car across tomorrow, I’ll take hold of him, like!”

Rotherham assistant boss Paul Rayner felt the Millers did well after conceding the two early goals: “I was disappointed in the first six or seven minutes, I have to admit, we gave ourselves a massive mountain to climb

“But I thought for the rest of the game, particularly the second half, we dominated possession and we created probably the slightly better chances, although a quality Ipswich Town side are going to create opportunities, which they did.

“Earlier in the season we tended to go away from home and probably be a bit in awe of our opponents and try and sit in and try and hit them on the break, but I thought today we dominated possession, certainly in the second half, we created opportunities and showed that we believe we can compete at the level.”

Photo: Action Images

blue_oyster added 18:52 - Sep 27 Bonkers.
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jas0999 added 18:56 - Sep 27 Good result, disagree with Mick, I thought Rotherham were poor. Played the ball around, but didn't really hurt us. Thought we should have pressed on second half, but you simply can't argue with three consecutive 2-0 home wins. Great return.
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irishtim added 18:58 - Sep 27 Honest as ever. Well done MM,TC And Squad.
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Garv added 19:01 - Sep 27 Me neither Mick, what a dull second half. The first ten minutes were great, after that we seemed to say to Rotherham "you do what you want, we'll pick up the pieces". Superb strike McGoldrick. And Daryl Murphy on course for 20 goals, who'd have thunk it?
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Garv added 19:07 - Sep 27 Rotherham looked very decent, until they got to the edge of the box where they seemed to lose the plot. They did however create lots of chances from wide which we were lucky not to concede from.
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martleshamitfc added 19:18 - Sep 27 Remember Rotherham had their best two players missing!! lol
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Mark added 19:39 - Sep 27 Yes, it was a shame we didn't score a few more goals after the superb start, especially with Loach looking shaky, but that's football. We did the important thing which was defend the lead, and we kept a clean sheet. 4th in the table and only 3 points behind the leaders. Mick is working miracles at ITFC, and we are so lucky to have him.
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bring_back_Wickham added 20:04 - Sep 27 In one week MM has used the words 'disimbiguous' and 'symbiotic' as well as the phrase "I'll take hold of him like". Weed?
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muccletonjoe added 20:40 - Sep 27 Against better opposition I think we would have been pegged back. Mm right to run the rule over the last 80 mins
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Michael11 added 20:47 - Sep 27 Another good win. It'd be nice to see us go on and beat a team by 3 or 4 goals rather than sit back but not fussed as long as we keep getting the points. McGoldrick and Murphy really have formed an incredible partnership over the past year and deserve a massive amount of credit! Can't wait for Sheffield Wednesday on Tuesday. COYB!
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Steelmonkey added 20:55 - Sep 27 Two very well taken goals and an appaling miss in the second half. Apart from that and some great footwork from DMcG a bit of a bore, I thought we were at times so out played but they just didn't have a finish in them thankfully. We had a bet on for 3-0 win after six mins and two up i said they are going to score a hatful today, we should have gone for more. Still I'll take the three points, best bit today was bumping into a mate I used to work with as I came through the turnstile.. Four wins on the trot, what have we got to do to bring back the missing 10,000, the crowd today was disappointing. COYB's

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gibbo added 21:24 - Sep 27 I'm not complaining, I had 2-0 Murphy to score first, happy days
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Michael11 added 23:14 - Sep 27 @Steelmonkey The obvious answer to get them extra 10,000 bums on seats is to have sensibly priced tickets. Who wants to see Rotherham for £30? Also an easy way of purchasing tickets as the ITFC direct website's as much use as a chocolate tea pot!
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red564 added 11:54 - Sep 28 Chocolate teapot? they do exist!! http://www.nestle.co.uk/innovation/behindthescenesatnestle/makingachocolateteapo
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blueboy1981 added 13:56 - Sep 28 ........ then you need to find out Mick, because we lost our way after 10 minutes and looked nothing really. At 2-0 up early doors we should have pressed on, but didn't, and lost our way. Need to do much better than that to take points off better teams going forward and to continue to progress.
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