Boss Mick McCarthy felt the Blues 1-0 FA Cup third round replay defeat to Southampton was a damp squib with the Saints comfortable victors at Portman Road. Shane Long netted the game’s only goal in the 19th minute.

“I’m always disappointed when I lose but the game was a damp squib,” McCarthy said. “We were OK until they scored and I think they then killed the game.

“They’re a good Premier League side. They’ve only conceded 15 goals in the Premier League against teams better than us.

“They didn’t give us many chances, I don’t think either goalkeeper has been worked too much, to be honest. They got the goal and they’ve killed the game.”

He added: “It’s disappointing for us all. Somebody said to me after Saturday that they were really disappointed. Well, we all are.

“We didn’t want that game to be like that. We wanted it to be a rip-roaring cup tie they didn’t allow it to happen.

“Maybe we should give a bit of credit to them. It’s not always us who is to blame. We have tried our hardest, as we always do.

“They’re a damn good side and I watched them beat Arsenal, I watched them beat Manchester United, so it’s no great shame on us that we’ve lost to Southampton, the pity is that we didn’t really have an exciting cup tie that we were hoping for.”

He says his players should have benefited from their two matches against the high-flying Saints: “I think whichever game you’re playing in there should be something learned from it. I think we’ve seen that they are a very good side.

“And I’m sure, and I know as a player, if I’ve played against good players, better players, somebody who did something, whatever it might be, I would have picked something up on the way.

“I would hope all my players have, and I’ve no doubt they have. Probably how bloody tough it is playing against Premier League teams.”

McCarthy was impressed with Kevin Bru’s display in central midfield: “Excellent, I’m really pleased with Kevin.

“He and Balint Bajner walked in the door in pre-season, two free transfers, two free agents. Balint hasn’t done as well as Kevin has, but Kevin’s been excellent whenever he’s been asked to play. I’m really pleased with him.”

The Blues manager says he’s not concerned by striker David McGoldrick’s current lack of goals, believing the Ireland international is still playing well and that he’ll start hitting the net again soon.

“I bet if you interview Murph he can’t tell you why they’re going in except for the fact that he practises it and he works at it, but so does Didz,” he continued.

“It’s difficult when it’s just not going for you. Something will change for him because he’s such a good player. He’ll get his goal and it’ll come again.

“He’s still putting his shift in, he’s still playing well, he’s just not getting his goals. But he will.

“And you know what? It might be Murph that dries up a little bit and we’re relying on David McGoldrick coming good again with his goals. He’s playing well, but he’s just not getting the goals he deserves.”

He says McGoldrick was substituted as a precaution: “You saw him take a knock on his foot.

“Murph had had a cut head, that’s no problem, you can play with stitches in your head, but I certainly didn’t want to risk David McGoldrick making it worse whatever he might do to make it worse. I haven’t had an update on it, I’ll have to go down and see.”

McCarthy is hopeful that his ill midfield trio will be OK for Saturday’s visit to Millwall: “They’re still poorly, they’re not here today, Tabby, Cole Skuse, Teddy Bishop, they’ve still got that virus.

“I’m hopeful they’ll be OK for Saturday, but I don’t know yet, which is my concern now. I can’t do anything about this one.”

He doesn’t expect his players to be affected by the back to back defeats: “I’m concerned when I’m asked questions like that, it’s a bit like we’re questioning players all the time, it’s like we’re just so weak-minded that we can’t cope when we get beaten.

“We were beaten by a good side on Saturday, it was just a mistake, and I’m pretty pragmatic about that.

“Hey ho, we’ve won some games when other teams have made mistakes. And I think we’ve competed against Southampton today, third in the Premier League.

“It’s a different game against Millwall on Saturday, they’ve been up to Bradford, I see they’ve been beaten 4-0 and they’ve had to travel. Who knows what the mood in their camp is like. Ours is pretty good, despite the defeats.”

Regarding his Millwall opposite number Ian Holloway, he says he knows what it’s like to be in his current position: “None of us want to be there. They keep saying that this is a tough league to get out of, it’s fairly easy to get out of it at the bottom end, let me tell you because it’s really competitive.

“I feel for Ollie, I’ve been there at the bottom of this league, the Premier League and it’s tough, the spotlight is on you, but he’s a good manager. I hope he’s OK.”

Saints boss Ronald Koeman said: “I think it was a very serious performance tonight. We were lucky that we scored from our first chance that we got in the game.

“After that, we defended well, there was good organisation in the team. I think we had some good opportunities in the second half, in the first 10 or 15 minutes, to create something more out of that counter-attacking.

“But I’m proud of the team, the players. It was difficult, it was a typical English cup game, long balls, battles, but a great performance from the lads and that’s very positive.”

Photo: Action Images

daniel9624 added 10:05 - Jan 15 While I can accept we have been up against two very good teams in the last few days, something is clear, we lack pace and speed of thought in and around the opposition penalty box. We were second to everything in both games, and how many problems were created last evening by Shane long just putting pressure on our back 3/4 at pace, Jonny Ruseell did the same to Mingsy on saturday, we have nothing similar. Our change option is another big lump, who frankly is is worse than Sammon, would love to see a waspish sort of palyer in and around Didz and Murph, Jonnie is the ideal, but there must others out there, someone with the right attitude to chase down those percentage balls, or flick on's that the other two have the pace to do.

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oioihardy added 10:07 - Jan 15 i dont mind being beaten by a good team, but the way we played, the long ball in the windy weather all game was awful ! i have been to some games this season and we can play some good football on the ground! so why not try it against the big prem teams give it a go! also our play last night came from berra or smith long ball up the field that must highlight to mick we need creative mind midfileds coming in soon , if not we wont compete in the prem!

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tallguy6767 added 10:19 - Jan 15 What MM sees in hymen! ! Is beyond me. All he does is pass the ball backwards and runs his fingers through his hair !!!
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Reecex28 added 10:42 - Jan 15 You need to have at least two midfielders in the team that have the confidence/ability to get the ball and pass/move forward. Your workers bees like Hyam win the ball and give it to one of them. Love the Town but it was embarrassing last night - appreciate it wasn't first string midfield but it was a repeat of the home game against the Scum.
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cromwellblue added 10:47 - Jan 15 What we really learnt last night is we can't play 4-4-2. We don't have wingers with pace who can inject some forward momentum and just get stuck. As they played 3-5-2 we couldn't play 4-3-3 without risking getting overrun by their midfield. As well as we have done this season we still have shortcomings but that is to be expected on a team that cost 10K. Hopefully we may see some more of Cameron Stewart, who may give us some pace on the wings. Bru continues to impress and deserves a regular starting spot. He not only works hare without the ball but has some composure on it. Let's not get too down about the last 2 results. A blip was always going to happen. If this is it then not too much damage done. If we get back to winning ways on Saturday then all will be forgotten.

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Lightningboy added 11:10 - Jan 15 Not going to get too down about the last 2 results but we need to get back on track Saturday by being more positive and we also need to have more belief in ourselves when we're in possesion - despite what many think, we are capable of playing very good football and I don't understand why we resort to hoofing the ball forward far too much. Last night we looked like a team that cost £10,000. Thankfully Sammon's gone and hopefully that means that we've got someone (hopefully Chris Wood or Jonny Williams or both) lined up to add some much needed power and pace up front. McGoldrick looks tired/uninterested/out of form..7 goals so far this season is poor considering he's played around 25 games..dunno whether he's sulking about the Leicester move but he definately needs a kick up the backside. Parr needs to come in at right back permanently with Chambers moving to the middle - Smith looked low on confidence last night after saturday's error and maybe needs to get his head straight again. Tha last 2 games have shown how much we miss Skuse controlling the midfield - I love Hyam's energy but he can't control the ball at times let alone the game. We do seem to fall very very flat in the really big games. - Burnley away last season,Norwich in august,Derby last weekend and last night - I would've expected Mick to have us fired up for those kind of games and not just give in without any sort of fight at all.

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Kikapu added 12:16 - Jan 15 Lawrenson was a disgrace. He did us a few favours though, as whenever he was purring about Southampton - they gave the ball away. Although we overdid the long ball just a bit, it can be a useful tactic in windy conditions. It's just as difficult for the defence to handle. We just didn't do it well enough. Derby benefited from a long ball, if you remember.
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Fatboy added 12:37 - Jan 15 Totally agree with the comments about Mark Lawrenson's commentary. He just went on and on about how Ipswich didn't have the same quality as Southampton. Also, Alan Shearer clearly hasn't watched Ipswich this season as he was adamant that we should play to our strengths, namely getting the ball out wide and crossing it in to the "big man" Murphy. I don't recall a single one of Murphy's goals this season having come about in this way.

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Steve70 added 12:49 - Jan 15 Cant say any player stood out last night. Mings did ok when he came on. No player should be critised. COYB - Senior players never manned up to the game.
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Fatboy added 12:50 - Jan 15 Those knocking our performance should have a read of some third-party reports on the game, which are generally favourable to Ipswich. Even the BBC report concedes that "there was little between the sides" and that Southampton were made "made to work for their progress to the fourth round". Southampton's last 5 results are as follows: Southampton 1-1 Chelsea Southampton 2-0 Arsenal Southampton 1-1 Ipswich Man Utd 0-1 Southampton Ipswich 0-1 Southampton That's hardly anything for us to be embarrassed about. Yes, it wasn't a great spectacle, but we were hardly overrun by a team currently 3rd in the Premier League and it was largely a case of the two teams cancelling each other out. What the game needed was for us to have taken the lead in order that Southampton would have had to have chased the game. This could have lead to a more open encounter and it's a shame that Hunt's early effort was ruled offside.

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AndyKing added 12:55 - Jan 15 To me it exposed our lack of strength in depth. We missed that bite in midfield that Bishop, Tabb and Skuse (underrated) provide and when McGoldrick came off, we had... Bajner. I'm not down though, I think we can still get promoted, but we NEED a stronger squad - simple
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Fatboy added 12:59 - Jan 15 From a league perspective, some of the worst things that could have happened last night were: 1. Injuries to key players. 2. The game going to extra-time. 3. Getting thrashed in a manner that could affect the players' confidence. None of those happened, so now it's back to the important business of securing promotion.
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JoeDickerson420 added 13:27 - Jan 15 Kevin Bru was my MOM. didnt stop running, got stuck in, won loose balls, gets in space and can also create a pass. Shame we never looked like giving there keeper a scare town 3 - 1 millwall
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NSL added 14:08 - Jan 15 Why is everyone so surprised about that performance?? Just because we got a full house, fancy advertising hoardings and the BBC there doesn't mean we are going to start playing like Barcelona!! We have put in dogged, unpretty, hoof-ball performances all season and its serving us well for the Championship. All those pundits who were referring to Ipswich as 'flying' obviously haven't seen many of our games and just assumed we must be turning teams over. And the question of whether or not we are ready for the Prem is irrelevant. That doesn't matter. We need promotion purely for financial reasons if any.

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runningout added 14:49 - Jan 15 TV coverage will be very minimal for us, after the last few screened games.... oh dear
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bomber21 added 14:55 - Jan 15 Just keep in mind the the last two times we lost to the saints in the 3rd round,we got promoted,1961 and 2000 so why not 2015.coyb.
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RaymondovicBlue added 17:05 - Jan 15 OK - first my context. I only see Town a few times a year as I live in Poole and cannot travel to Ipswich often. I saw the Bournemouth away game and the First leg of the Saints tie I was going to come to see Bournemouth at home, but am working on Good Friday Hasd been GREAT to see us on Sky so often to boost my "supporter status " So - that said, and if you still think I'm worth listening to ..... Here come the down votes ... maybe .... I was gutted with the tie from the 25th minute of the first game. We were bossing them and then when they started playing ... we stopped and put 10 behind the ball. But - and it is a BIG BUT - their goal in the first game was a fluke and in a way so was their second. Smith puts in a great clearing challenge and the ball could have gone anywhere - but it pops up to a great striker at volley height and .... 0-1 ! Mick is right that they tried to kill the game - but did we have anyone in the side with the sparkle/class pace to make it really tough for them? Sadly not. Dids needs to be taught to look for his team=mates (Hunt could well have scored had he been given the ball int he great position he found himself in - and having already scored a goal, minutely offside. Bt can I repeat others' concerns - IF you are going to pass the ball all the way back to the keeper (occasionally with strikers already pressurising him) for him to hoof it upfield or off the side .... then why on earth doesn't the midfielder or the last defender just hoof it up or off themselves without that added pressure??? And why do we defend with all 11 behind the ball so when it is excellently cleared , it just comes straight back again and back again and back again. I'm PROUD to support Ipswich and to have only lost 2-1 to the team third in the PL (on aggregate !) And I will GO ON being proud if they go on playing with the guts they do But I'm no less of a supporter when I say that some of the performances yesterday were on the disappointing side ! But I still cheered and applauded the team! I watched on TV - was it as quiet in there as it seemed on the coverage ... after such a noise at St Mary's ?? I personally think we can get 12 points from or next 4 league games and if we do - we will be top and deservedly so ! COYB Never mind Boxing Day - Good Friday may well be a key day in our season (and that of AFCB)

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RaymondovicBlue added 17:07 - Jan 15 Sorry - that got to be very long !!!!
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RRanger added 18:08 - Jan 15 I can't agree with those saying that Ambrose didn't have a good game. I thought in the first half in particular he was excellent and one thing I know ,if he played regularly he would be that midfielder who scores that we are looking for. Bru was outstandng and looked every inch a Premier league midfielder and I thought we looked much better when Mings came on,Parr moved to the right and Chambers moved to (one of three) centre back. It wasn't a particularly exciting game but I don't think as a team we were awful as some people are saying. Southampton have the best defence in the Premier League and we struggled to have any impact against them. But how many saves did Bart have to make? I can't recall one serious save so you could say that, apart from their goal, our defence did a job on Southampton. Some people on here have very short memories - it was only a few weeks ago that we were superb against Middlesbrough and Brentford. We can't play like that all the time but we are still very hard to beat and I fully believe that we will finish in the top 3 and could well be one of the sides to go up automatically. COYB

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purplealien added 20:07 - Jan 15 In fairness to Lawrenson, if I only had that game to go on, I'd conclude there is a lack of quality in our squad too. My son and I commented on how nervous some of the players looked as they lined up. Parr in particular looked petrified, and proceeded to have a very poor first half. Chambers seemed surprisingly quiet, Smith looked like he was worried he'd make a bad back pass again and McGoldrick gives the impression of someone battling inner demons. I wish we'd gone down bravely fighting at St. Mary's, as I worry about the effect this performance may have had on some of them. Maybe it would be best to ban the Sky and BBC cameras from PR! Had Lawrenson done his homework properly he'd have seen that we have been much stronger with our regular midfield. I like Bru too, but in my opinion a combination of: Ambrose, Bru, Hunt and Hyam as significantly weaker than our recent midfield grouping of Skuse, Tabb, Bishop and Anderson/Hunt. I hope we get them all back soon! The good news is that we've now got a run of very winnable games and no TV cameras. I just hope MM can lift them for Millwall, because a poor result there will not help at all.

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Vancouver_Blue added 00:55 - Jan 16 Apart from the fact we were on telly, I'm not too worried that we lost. I just hope re reignite our season against Millwall on Saturday
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