Town boss Mick McCarthy felt there was little in the Blues’ 2-0 East Anglian derby defeat to Norwich at Carrow Road aside from the Canaries' two goals.

“I don’t think there was a lot in the game,” the Blues boss said. “I certainly don’t think Norwich dominated the game, but they scored the two goals.

“The two goals were the difference, that’s generally the case if you score them both. But that was it.

“We lost the ball in midfield for the first one but I have to say it was good play from them.

“It took a deflection off one of our lads but the shot was unstoppable when he hit it, so you can’t do anything other than say that. It was a terrific strike.

“The second one, it took a deflection and I think Bart was going to save that. They were maybe a bit fortunate with that.

“We didn’t get any of that. We had a few scrambles and chances before half-time but it wasn’t our day in front of goal.”

Town’s best chance was Freddie Sears’s first-half effort, which John Ruddy did well to save.

“I’d say so," said McCarthy. “I thought Freddie did particularly well with it, he steadied himself and the way he’s been playing you’d expect him to slide it in, but it’s a great save that he made. I won’t give out to Freddie for a miss, that’s for sure.

“It was a great save, wasn’t it? He came out and smothered it. You’ve got to give the goalkeeper credit for that.”

While the Town boss was disappointed to lose the derby he says the game is only worth three points like any other match and it’s now important for his players to get back to winning ways as soon as possible.

“It doesn’t give us any more points or them any more points," he added. "It gives them the kudos, of course, and people don’t like that and I fully understand that about supporters. I’ve played in my own local derbies when I started as a kid.

“I know the importance of them and the importance for us now is to knuckle-down and win more games and finish at least in the play-offs. What are we, three off the top two? It’s there to be played for.”

McCarthy doesn’t expect the result to affect his players, who have bounced back from adversity on plenty of previous occasions.

“I don’t think it ever has,” he added. “As I keep saying, the lads have been brilliant all season.

“And I wonder, when you look at the squad of players that Norwich have got, the team that they’ve got, I wonder how many teams put it down as an away win when they’re coming down here. I don’t think there was a lot in the game but they’ve scored the two goals.”

He dismissed the suggestion that results elsewhere were a positive to take from the weekend: “I can’t do anything about them. If all the others lose all the rest of their games and we do we’ll still be in the same position.

“I don’t look for that [results elsewhere], I think in a really tough fixture we’ve played all right and we’ve just been beaten by the two goals. I’m not looking for a silver lining really when we’ve just lost.”

Despite the setback McCarthy insists that the Blues are still targeting a top-two finish: “Of course. Aim for that and if we end up in the play-offs we’ll have had a great season.

"And if we end up in the top two it might surprise you even more than if we end up in the top six.”

Norwich manager Alex Neil was pleased to win his first derby in charge of the Canaries: “It wasn’t the best game but the most important thing was that we’ve won it.

"We’ve won six in a row now, which is great. Now we just have to keep on winning.”

He added: “We’re third at the moment and we’ve given ourselves a real chance. The opportunity is there, we just have to go out and grasp it. It wasn’t in our own hands when I took over, now it is.”

Photo: Action Images

garycolin added 20:46 - Mar 1 We need to play parr at the back and drop smith and play Murphy and wood upfront with Sears just behind them. All we are missing is a quality midfielder but I for one thinks mick and terry have done a great job with the money they have avaible
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bluesince84 added 20:47 - Mar 1 I said yesterday despite getting wood in , despite playing our best football at 433 despite going through our bad run since we adopted 442 what did we do, oh yes, went 442 and who started , tabb ! That bloody man is totally and utterly undroppable . Parr if I were your agent I'd be telling you to walk !
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bluefeast added 20:57 - Mar 1 We are two points above seventh-placed Brentford and face six more of the top eight promotion contenders in their final 12 fixtures of the season. Our form needs to improve if we are to finish top 6 with these fixtures.
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garycolin added 21:05 - Mar 1 To be fair to tabb he dose a lot of hard work in the middle of the park that dose go unnoticed we just need that ball winner who can play a decent ball forward a bit like matty Holland used to
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bluefeast added 21:21 - Mar 1 its not tabbs fault ,he gets picked and tries his best at all times. Its micks fault for picking him ,thats such a shame. We lack so much. But hard work got us into the top 6 ,we know that its all about momentum at this time in a season ,weve lost it ,bournmouth have lost it ,norwich and wolves have it , others in the top 8 are stuttering.Never has there been a better chance and we look to be the weakest of the top 8. I wish the others had varny and chaplow. As new signings they are a joke. To start chaplow today said it all about mm. hes lost the plot.

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Garv added 21:22 - Mar 1 Awful.
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bluefeast added 21:23 - Mar 1 also this is the worst team in terms of talent weve had in years. Hate the hoof lack of control embarrassment on offer from this bunch ,financial fair play is bs ,we are spending 20k per week on 3 lumps of unfit new loan signings
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garycolin added 21:31 - Mar 1 I know what you mean mate it's very frustrating wood will be a good signing but not to sure on the other two would still like to see us play 4 3 3 with wood Murphy and Sears just behind them and if we can get a quality midfielder in I would be happy
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garycolin added 21:31 - Mar 1 I know what you mean mate it's very frustrating wood will be a good signing but not to sure on the other two would still like to see us play 4 3 3 with wood Murphy and Sears just behind them and if we can get a quality midfielder in I would be happy
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jonnysuave added 21:37 - Mar 1 Very little difference apart from that they can pass, they beat players, the show composure, they have a functioning midfield, they have assured defenders, they scored, they had most of the better players on the pitch and they never looked in trouble. Admittedly Mick had to talk the team up, it's his job to do so. We aren't much cop. He knows that and is probably as surprised as the rest of us at how well we have done in the league. He's got no money and he's done wonders with what we have got. Yes of course we can question decisions and players playing out of position but there's not a whole load of choice in the squad, nor on who becomes available on loan (that we can afford). What really galled me was all those gurning tw@ts in yellow who think that they are better than us. Their superiority lies purely in the fact that they have a shed load more money than us. Thats like being a public schoolboy and snearing at the kids trooping off to the tawdry state school. For me our revolution should be to storm the gates at Carrott road, burn their flags and smash their arrogance into the North Sea.

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bluefeast added 21:41 - Mar 1 love the post above ,top bloke and so true.
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bluesince84 added 21:45 - Mar 1 Just a final post as this board seems to have calmed down now. Dont worry everyone, despite the obvious calamity of today, mich will now change to 433, you know the shape that brought us 21 games unbeaten, tabb will be dropped, smith will be rested, chambers moved to create balance. Oh and parr will start . hahaahahhahahahaha only kidding, next game, 442, tabb in team!

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blue86 added 22:42 - Mar 1 Never nice to lose the derby, however the game Has gone now and were still up there fighting. Hopefully we can go on another run now and Finish in the playoffs, which would be a massive Achievement compared to the last few seasons. McCarthy has done a great job do get us to where We are, but would love to see a bit more attacking Threat and imagination from us especially from Midfield. Chambers at rb is not good imo, and mick Needs to play him cb asap, parr at rb surely a no brainer. Coyb

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Theipswich added 00:01 - Mar 2 Today we were shown up by MM's tactical limitations and I have been saying this since last Summer. Even in the golden autumn/early winter period when we could do no wrong, his lack of tactical strategy and the monotonous way of hoofing the ball up without any acumen, it was clear that he had no other method of play..and time has caught up with us. I admire MM for steadying the ship since the autumn of 2012 after the Jewell debacle and restoring some decency to my beloved club but football-wise, he is a dinosaur and we will go nowhere with this type of football. As much as I think he is a regular guy and clearly principled, we will slip now down the table and I have been saying this since August. The home defeat against Norwich then and today's woeful defeat with our one dimensional hoofing style shows that we have not really progressed on the pitch. Players clearly played out of position ( and I am a big Smith fan ), mediocre players being preferred over more suitable and stylish ones and a style of football which rival teams clocked ages ago but he stubbornly refuses to change...well, we saw the consequences today gentlemen.

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MicksZzzTactics added 00:05 - Mar 2 In tribute to the late and great James Alexander Gordon, here is how he would probably have presented today's classified football result from the English League Championship if he was still around .... and in a sarcastic mood: Norwich City (2) TWOOOO - Hoof Town (0) NELLLL :-) Yep ME should definitely consider changing the club's name to "Hoof Town FC", at least as long as that premium example of a football dinosaur Mick McCarthy is the manager! LOL Besides the abundance of Hoof Ball, few if any sides in this league has/pick a more uncreative midfield than ours .... and none of the other promotion contenders really continues to take the field in almost every game (not just the real top ones) vastly more tactical preoccupied with NOT LOSING rather than playing and trying hard - from the outset - to WIN! Thus it really does boggle the mind how ITFC has accumulated 60 points, and are only 3 points away from an automatic promotion place .... with these team selections and substitutions, these default tactics, this anti-football preaching dinosaur manager and this non-financially-strengthened discount/leftovers squad! Someone involved (or higher up in the stratosphere?) _ _ _ sure must be a true "Miracle Worker" after all I guess. :-) BTW if you Google "Kick and Rush football" or "Long Ball football" while on the Net, you are likely to find a Wiki (Wikipedia) named "Long Ball" on top of the search list. Now I just visited that page mostly to reminisce over the good old original Wimbledon days and also Norways notorious former manager and super proponent of that very style: Eigil "Drillo" Olsen .... But wait!!! cause to my enormous surprise our very own guru i.e. Mick McCarthy, was NOT named on the very long list of "Notable Proponents"???!!! .......... Luckily as with all Wikipedias anybody can edit the content (as long as it's strictly sober and following the editing rules), so naturally I took the liberty to add Mick McCarthy's name to that aforementioned "Notable Proponents of Long Ball" list .... and I even added a sort of fitting reference, which is customary. Thus in the future any football scholar visiting this "Long Ball Wikipedia" will now CORRECTLY find Mick McCarthy and HIS Ipswich Town! as a proponent of what we fans nowadays call: Hoooof! :-)

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GiveusaWave added 01:20 - Mar 2 Mickszzztactics Though I didn't agree with everything you said; very well written. Would agree strongly that we should rename our team and Hoof Town FC seems appropriate given our tactics. Do agree also that MM has actually performed miracles given the limited ability of our squad and our one-dimensional play has paid dividends. Well done to MM and TC, as you've turned a top 15 team into a potential top 6. That shows great management. You've also turned us into the long-ball experts of the present. Lets look forward to the next game. Maybe the opposition should wear air-raid helmets?

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gorse added 03:32 - Mar 2 I love how people complain about hoofball when we haven't got squad to outplay the better Championship teams. Carry on trying to smash square pegs into round holes, then you'll moan about us getting thumped. Both teams shut each other down today, that's why it was such a scrappy game, Norwich got the luck and we had none. Parr did well in that position against Millwall was it? And I'm sure Bru looks like Cantona vs Blackpool but back in the real world we aren't going to and have not played a passing game vs Derby, Bournemouth etc. Yeah Tabb's set pieces were poor today but he closed down better than anyone all game which were the tactics, and he played a few great OMG actually short passes. There were plenty worse performances but like my earlier point, they made it impossible for us to play well. On the upside it was a damn sight better than the last time we played em. I am disappointed in the players we've got in, today's subs, and would love to see us play it along the floor, but a derby 6-pointer is not the game to take risks in. It's not Roy Of The Rovers it's the bloody Championship.

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clint_eastwood added 03:58 - Mar 2 HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF.....HOOF!!

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BrettenhamBlue added 06:33 - Mar 2 Can't read much here as the typing disappears and its gone horizontal. How do people expect us to play? We have to play hoofball because its what we are good at! If we tried to play passing football we would be one below Blackpool in the league right now. We have tried at times to play passing football but we don't have the guys to do it. When we have played that way we have been slaughtered. We should remember our days of being thrashed by Colchester etc. Beaten by a much better team on Sunday. They are shopping at M & S whilst we are in the 99p store. One of our back 4 who shall remain nameless should be called Sir Hoofs-a-lot.

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dirtydingusmagee added 06:59 - Mar 2 i havnt ever felt the need to criticise MM, BUT if he thought there was little between the sides except for the goals, im actually surprised he saw the goals!.Mick you need to go to SpecSavers mate before the season disintegrates
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battyblue added 07:25 - Mar 2 I am afraid there is very little chance of promotion now persisting with present MM tactics and although i love ipswich town we are not prem material at the moment wake up guys.
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rugbytomc added 07:57 - Mar 2 I agree there was little in it other than The goals and it was the same at home but both dreadful games of football and we need to make sure we go away from this game and improve. Unlucky to be missing both mcgoldrick and bishop our two players capable of putting their foot on the ball and looking up. I'm not convinced by varney and especially not by Chaplow who I'm really not sure is what we needed. Time to freshen up at the back and time to see parr chambers Berra mings again then bring smith back in a few games for berra to keep the players fresher. I know mick is trying to bring in wide players with pace and creative central players and that they don't just grow on trees so i hope he's successful with that soon as its loan players getting Derby and Middlesbrough where they are which could be promoted

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Help added 07:58 - Mar 2 Why do we always play so badly when on the telly. When is our next tv (defeat) match
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donnelly78 added 08:22 - Mar 2 Sorry but tabb shouldn't of been on the pitch he is the week link in midfield.
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blueherts added 08:43 - Mar 2 Some of you say this is the worst football team we have had in years - Interesting that we are in our best position for over 10 years then ? Discuss Everyone says the league is getting tougher and yet reading some of your posts we have the worst team ever ?And are in play offs - few points off automatics Do I like Hoof ball ? No - should Smith be dropped - Yes Should Anderson have started or a wide player instead of Chaplow - Yes Are our two best 'footballers' injured - Dids and Bishop - Yes Are Sears and Wood good signings ? Yes Would Stephen Hunt been up for this game if fit ? you bet All ifs and buts -BUT some of you on here need to step back and look at where we are ? AND with your great ability of hindsight - after we lost to Scummers back in August would you have accepted us being in a play off spot three points off automatic ? Some need to come off FIFA games and get in the real world

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