Boss Mick McCarthy hailed the Blues 1-0 win at Watford as a “huge result” as his side go into the final seven games of the Championship season having returned to the play-off places. The victory, courtesy of Richard Chaplow’s goal deep, deep into injury time, saw McCarthy’s team move up to sixth in the table.

“With seven games to go it’s a huge result for us, it’s fabulous,” the Town manager said. “We’re back in the top six, aren’t we?

“I thought it was a really top tactical performance as much as anything, against a team who try and play through you.

“We had to change a couple of times to accommodate them and I thought we did it particularly well and it’s a great victory in the last minute and it was a great finish by Chappers. I thought all the subs contributed well.

“He might have been thinking about Brentford when he had a chance on the edge of the box and he put it in the keeper’s hands. He’s got good quality Chappers, he’s a good player.”

McCarthy’s back four have recently been the subject of criticism in some quarters but prevented the Hornets, top of the table at the start of the day, from managing a single shot on target.

“That’s why I told those who criticised them to ‘foxtrot oscar’!” the Town boss added. “And, by the way, that still applies, if the cap fits, ‘foxtrot oscar’!

“We [started the game at a high tempo]. I trust the players. I’ve had a very small squad of players, I trust them, they’re a really honest bunch of lads, they give everything, they don’t leave anything on the pitch.

“If you want to leave something on the pitch, leave a good impression with everybody and generally they do.”

He says he brought Chaplow on as Kevin Bru had run himself into the ground: “It was a great substitution. It just confirmed it when he limped in front of me. I’m just surprised at how quick Bru ran when we scored!”

The result sees the Blues move to within five points of the Hornets, who are down to second following Bournemouth’s 3-0 victory over Middlesbrough at lunchtime.

Asked whether he feels it’s a weird division with teams looking like they’re going to run away at the top before dropping away again, he said: “I think you’ll find I’ve been calling it bonkers since about August, so if you want to change it to weird I’m cool with that.

“I ruled myself out last week, didn’t I? I keep saying to everybody, it’s how many points we end up with and who knows how many we’ll end up with.

“You’ve seen it today. Brentford scored in the last minute, Wolves will have been cock-a-hoop [after beating Derby], then we’ve won.

“We’ve got Bournemouth next week. I said that with the next two games we could either be really out of it really back in it. At the moment we’re back in it.”

McCarthy hopes that midfielder Teddy Bishop will be back for the Bournemouth game having missed today’s game and having been ruled out of the England U19s squad with sore shins.

“He wasn’t on the bench today, Kundai Benyu was on the bench instead of him,” he continued. “We’ve got two weeks before the next game, he’ll be fine for Bournemouth, I’m sure.”

Left-back Tyrone Mings will miss the Good Friday visit by the Cherries as he now faces a two-match ban having amassed 10 bookings.

Watford boss Slavisa Jokanovic said his team was still looking to win the match in injury time and as a consequence left themselves open to the break which led to Town’s goal.

“You’re always disappointed when you’ve lost a game like we lost today, it’s a normal emotion,” he said.

“In the past few games we’ve won in the last minute, but today we lost the game. I accept first of all that it’s my responsibility because I didn’t want to close the game and we were looking to try and find a way to win the game.

“I made a mistake, my team made a mistake in the last moments and this is how my team today lost [what would have been] one point.”

Photo: Action Images

norfstanda added 10:04 - Mar 22 It does make me laugh reading these posts. People are entitled to their opinions and forums like these is a good way to express them. However, surely we are all wanting the same thing - town to win games. Yesterday's result was massive and town now have a huge huge game coming up against b'mouth. For all those 'fans' that enjoy a moan, please please use that energy to get behind the team, rather than foolishly wasting it by berating the team.

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Lukeybluey added 10:34 - Mar 22 Great win! tenacious all over the pitch! Well done lads! This season is as tight as i remember. Really any of the top 8 have a chance of automatic promotion! Its going to go down to the wire!
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gippeswyk added 11:05 - Mar 22 I can't hear the boo boys. Hope you're feeling stupid for continually critisicising MM and thinking you know better. Let's get behind the Town!
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FenboyBlue added 11:41 - Mar 22 Fox(trot) onesies for the last game ? Mick 'Renegade Soundwave' McCarthy does it again. Bonkers.
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essex57 added 11:46 - Mar 22 Lets stick together guys and support the team over the line Buy the way does anybody think mm is putting himself up for next seasons strictly Foxtrot oscar lol
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BlueMachines added 11:57 - Mar 22 Great post Walktheline. Spot on.
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dannyrr added 14:20 - Mar 22 Everyone is entitled to an opinion and won't agree with everything or everyone all the time. Please don't berate people that voice an opinion on a regular basis. Would you rather people said nothing then this forum would be a waste of time. I have noted that Tommy has had some bad games and wondered if he needed dropping but today he is in team of the day for yesterdays performance. Awesome maybe that's what some need to be able to prove people wrong. I'm happy to be proved wrong and that he may have worked more to prove others wrong. I like many others just want the side to do well. It appears that MM played a tactical master stroke yesterday nullifying Watford with single figure chances when they have scored so many goals in their last 7 games. I watched the Bournemouth game on TV last night and didn't look that impressive and the third goal was a dive to get a penalty. It was clear he was going to go over before he did. Let's hope we can take three points and make it FPR again. COYB

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halsteadblue added 18:08 - Mar 22 Not ashamed to say when Chaplow scored that goal it brought tears of joy to my eyes.It kind of reminded me of that unbelievable day at Wembley when the legend that is Martijn Reuser was put through,oh happy days.Dare we dream?.Why not,if we play like this for the remainder of the season then yes we can do this.....COME ON YOU BLUES.
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phillo added 20:37 - Mar 22 I'm intrigued ...... what constitutes a "moaner" ? If it is someone who sometimes passes an opinion that when we are playing badly & losing games, when some players are maybe not at their best & need a rest (Tommy Smith) or maybe we could balance the side with a formation that we had success with at the start if the season (433) ...... then count me in ! Agree the pointless & ignorant "Mick out" posters are maybe not that credible ... but as for the "opinion" posts what is wrong with that ? Be a pretty boring "forum" if everyone agreed ! So a bit sad to see some of the comments on here goading & deriding other true ITFC fans who may have had the temerity to offer alternative opinions. Grow up, stick together & back the boys to get home .....

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BackTheBlues added 09:43 - Mar 23 I think we'd all of taken a point and to grab all 3 is amazing! Bournemouth at our place is not as hard as people think, 3 points are definitely there and if we have a couple more injured's back on the field then who knows... After that the run in is pretty kind! Aim for the top 2 and if we fall slightly short play-offs it will be! COYB! Up the town!
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Razor added 10:47 - Mar 23 OK, this was a fantastic result and unlike the last 2 games we thoroughly deserved what we got. The team seemed to have their mojo back and played like they were doing 6 weeks ago.great to see. Defence well organised again and Skuse ran the midfield. Didnt the owner promise us a new quality loan player by the deadline day if we were still in the mix, and with players coming back for Easter hopefully (Didds and Hyam?) and 4 games at home we CAN do this. Crikey, at Middlesborough I was SO depressed but now I am getting excited and going all wobbly again---BLUE ARMY!!

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scunnyblue added 09:48 - Mar 24 BONKERS!!!!
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