Boss Mick McCarthy believes “terrific” skipper Luke Chambers typifies his Blues squad, who he says he's lucky to have at the club. Chambers, 29, will lead out Town out at Blackburn this afternoon with the Blues requiring just a point to confirm their place in the play-offs.

“I think he’s a really good player, Chambo, but I think he’s a terrific captain,” McCarthy said. “He runs that dressing room in there, he’s great on the pitch.

“He’s just a really good character. I think I’m lucky to have good lads. At the End of Season Dinner I was so proud of them, the way they conducted themselves and I always am, off the pitch, on the pitch.

“They’re a great bunch of lads, very calm, very mature, everybody who spoke. It’s not something which gets overlooked here, how they conduct themselves off the pitch. Chambo I think epitomises them and I’m delighted to have him as a captain.”

While McCarthy has had successes in play-offs, most notably a two-legged victory over Iran which took the Republic of Ireland to the 2002 World Cup finals, like his captain the Blues boss has also had his disappointments.

“One of my worst days was losing in the play-offs at Sunderland against Crystal Palace when the goalkeeper was fouled and the guy who scored the winning penalty shouldn’t have been on, the referee made a bad decision,” he recalled. “Not that I’m bitter and twisted!

“There was a hole in the wall at Sunderland where I threw something at it for about two years just to remind everybody about how bad I felt.

“They hurt, they stay with me, they stay with me more than wins do. But that doesn’t help me doing my job today. What can I pass on or impart to anybody about how bad I feel? That would be a negative feel.”

He says it's important for his players to concentrate on the match itself rather than getting wrapped up in the hype.

“You’ve got to play the game and not the occasion, if you do it the other way around you can be in big trouble," he said at Thursday's press conference.

“I am calm [now] and on Saturday I’ll be nervous. I can’t do anything about the game today, the only thing I could do is make it worse, make people nervous and if that’s my experience making me not do that, then great.”

Meanwhile, the Town manager says he's confident that 18-year-old Teddy Bishop will handle the additional pressure.

“Absolutely. He’s an outstanding talent, Teddy Bishop,” he added. “He’s coping with the physical side of it now, he started three games in a week and only came off after 75 or 80 minutes against Forest, he’d run his race that day.

“He’s coping with that much better but as a footballer he’s terrific and he’s very mature in how he plays.”

Photo: Action Images

hogster1970 added 06:56 - May 2 best captain since matty holland, you are a star chambo, lets see another fist pump today. pity you wasnt playing as a CB but hey ho
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bluefeast added 07:18 - May 2 Nervous but confident ,strange cocktail that , i shall call it a head fukc
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DurhamTownFan added 08:47 - May 2 Love the emotion of the guy. Playing RB though, he's a better captain than player. Think MM has a big decision to make in the summer about where Chambo plays!
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marco007 added 08:49 - May 2 Great skipper and motivator but is that enough? Have serious doubts about his quality as defensively weak and offers very little going forward
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warktheline added 09:04 - May 2 @marco007, McCarthy has played Chambers out of position most of the season, yes when he plays full back he struggles, but when he has played CB, his natural position, his performances have been extremely solid.
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Guthrum added 09:33 - May 2 People seem to forget that Chambers has played a sizeable part of his career - in successful teams - at right back. Our defensive combination can't be that bad, only five teams in this division have conceded fewer goals.
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Paddy39 added 10:16 - May 2 I have seen other so called proper right backs play in this division play a lot worse than Chambo. He has done brilliant considering it is not his natural position and you can be sure he's playing there because we are short of funds to be on a big spending spree. Well done Chambo lets see the fist pump at Wenbley good luck today. COYB's.
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Seasider added 11:36 - May 2 Thought he did well against Forests star man. Mick Mc Carthy,his teams style of play is sometimes frustrating but just look at his record this century. Just missed out on 200 Euro Championship in play offs. 2002 World Cup Finals. 2003/4 Lost on penalties in play offs. 2004/5 Automatic promotion with Sunderland. 2005/6 Premiership 2006/7 play off semi final defeat to West Brom. 2007/8 Automatic promotion with Wolves where he kept them in Premiership. 2013/14 Just missed play with Ipswich 2014'15 In or near playoffs for most of season,occasionally top two. Prior to above also suffered semi-final defeat with Millwall before becoming Eire manager. Good luck to him and all others connected to ITFC

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