Town boss Mick McCarthy says he’d happily take the Blues’ current position of fifth in the table come the end of the season.

Asked if he was pleased to see his side in fifth having played 10 games, he said: “I’d take it after 46! I would have taken it [after 10 games] but I I’d take it after 46.

“I suppose someone will be listening and will say ‘I can’t believe he’s saying that, we want to win it, we want to be second’. Of course we do and that’s what we’re trying to do, but if we ended up in fifth and we’re in the play-offs, that would be a remarkable achievement. It would be something to look forward to.

“We’ll just keep plugging away. I know it’s cliched, but that’s what we do. We’re just trying to win the next game.”

The Blues boss looks certain to be amongst the nominees for the September Manager of the Month award when they are announced later in the week having picked up 13 points from the available 15.

If he wins it he'll become the first Town boss to carry off the gong since Joe Royle in November 2004.

McCarthy, who while with Sunderland was coincidentally amongst the nominees to lose out to Royle, has picked up the award three times with his previous clubs, once with Wearsiders and twice with Wolves, most recently in November 2008.

The Town boss says he has no complaints about the outcome at Hillsborough on Tuesday: “But for nicking a win at Sheffield Wednesday it would have been a perfect month, but I can’t honestly say we would deserved to win it. I think a draw was a fair result."

Having seen the likes of Norwich and Wolves lose at home this week, McCarthy says he’s all too aware that the Championship can throw up some unpredictable results.

“And it will because that’s what the league is,” he added. “There’s not a great deal between us from top to bottom.

“I saw Rotherham had a great result beating Blackburn at their place, and that’s no surprise because I thought they played well here.

“If you remember last year when Doncaster and Yeovil and Barnsley were all really struggling against the tide and relegation was threatening them, but they all kept picking up results. Millwall went up to Derby and beat them. It’s just how the league is.”

Photo: Action Images

jabberjackson added 08:18 - Oct 4 I like the fact that mick definitely feels we are better than 6th
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bluemikey100 added 09:16 - Oct 4 playoff lottery no thanx only 1st or 2nd will do
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bluefeast added 11:08 - Oct 4 If we finish top six it will be an incredible achievement. If you add up our transfer fees is less than 50k across the whole squad. You would have to pay say 4 million for mings , 4 million for berra , 8 million for DM , and the rest of the squad would all command decent fees. So we are in a good place for the 1st time since Magiltons management time. COYB
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