Boss Mick McCarthy said his players were all devastated after former Blue Liam Trotter netted a last minute equaliser as Town suffered final moments heartbreak at the City Ground for the second year running. Jonny Parr had given the Blues - who drew 2-2 in last season’s corresponding fixture - the lead with 16 minutes remaining.

“They’re all devastated, they’re all flat, really very, very disappointed,” McCarthy said. “There’s nothing I could say that would make them feel better or worse.

“I haven’t got any words of comfort. I haven’t got any soothing words and I don’t think I needed to be giving anybody any stick.

“It’s one of those, Gerks gets his hand on it, it’s just Johnny on the spot. We managed to block it but it’s Trotter that puts it in. Strikes me it’s Sod’s Law that."

He added: “I think we should have hung on. We shouldn’t have let them out of the corner. That’s what’s cost us, when the ball came in our our box.

“Maybe it’s just the way things are going, it falls to Johnny on the spot. We’ve even blocked it on the line and it falls for Trotter. Sod’s law that.”

Having made several important saves, including a superb stop from Trotter in the first half, McCarthy says keeper Dean Gerken was inconsolable after the match.

“Gerks is sat with his head in his hands, but he’s been fabulous, Gerks. At the time, I would imagine like everybody else when he comes and gets his hand on it he thinks he’s done great.

“But, of course, he collides with Christophe and they’re all on the floor, but I’m not going to be pointing the blame at him for it.”

He says the goal came from Town's failures further up the pitch: “They got a lot of bodies in the box. I don’t think we should have let them out of the corner. Their throw-in in their right-back slot should never have got into the left wing spot.

“We should have nailed that down and we didn’t, we missed a couple of tackles up there. Even if you give a foul away, so be it.”

Despite the late disappointment McCarthy was pleased with the overall performance: “I thought we played well enough. I thought they shaded the first half and we shaded the second, to be honest

“Having got the goal and not really having had to hold on, I think we should have won it. But, hey ho, it’s just the way things are going at the moment.

“We [made the other keeper make a few saves] and we probably didn’t make the most of some of the other chances, but I think they’d probably be saying the same.”

All 10 outfield players celebrated Parr's goal together, which illustrated the team spirit at the club which McCarthy says has never been in any doubt despite the current run of form.

“There’s no doubting the team spirit an the camaraderie amongst the players,” he continued. “I get that when it’s not going well the first thing that's said is ‘The manager’s lost the dressing room…’

“I never ever have lost the dressing room anywhere. We might lose games. The team spirit’s fabulous. I thought it was a good performance. But when we had the stranglehold on, we shouldn’t have let go.”

McCarthy started David McGoldrick, Daryl Murphy and Freddie Sears together for the first time, which he says gives him flexibility.

“I could do both, go 4-4-2 or 4-3-3, it suited us either way. I went to 4-4-2 in the second half and I thought we caused them a lot of problems.

“I thought the performance was good and the performance from players was good but it doesn’t feel like that now because we’d just lost two points with a minute to go.”

He felt playing the three frontmen gave Forest problems: “It worked to a certain degree. How are Murph and Didz going to get better? I guess only through playing.

“But it’s only if they’re the best ones, that’s the way it is. Freddie’s been outstanding. We can go 4-4-2 off that shape, which we did actually and probably had more chances late on in the second half at 4-4-2.”"

He says he may do the same again: “Possibly, because it’s a fairly threatening strike force in anybody’s book. We’ll just have to take a look at it, work at it and see if it’s going to suit us.”

The Blues lost Jonas Knudsen and Cole Skuse to injuries and says both will benefit from Town not having a game in midweek: “He’s damaged his hamstring, Jonas. You don’t run those off and we’ll have to see the extent of that on Monday morning and see.

“Skusey rocked his ankle that caused him to miss the game on Tuesday night, so that’s quite clearly that’s an ongoing thing, so it’s good that we haven’t got a game this week until Saturday, certainly for Skusey. It might give him a chance to be fit. I don’t know about Jonas.

“It’s been a tough week for everybody, just with the games we’ve had. So it might be nice for the lads to rest their limbs and get ready for two home games.”

Forest manager Dougie Freedman felt his side ought to have been in front at the break but in the end was happy to accept the point.

“After they scored we regrouped and put the pressure back on them," he said.

“We changed it around a little bit, and at least we got a point out of the game.

“We should have been at least 3-0 up at half-time. It’s a common theme right now that our good performances aren’t getting the right result.”

Regarding debutant goalscorer Liam Trotter, he added: “I thought he was excellent today. He came into the group and kept on going right to the end.

“He deserved his goal for a fantastic debut and a great performance.”

Photo: Action Images

pointofblue added 18:27 - Oct 24 So it's completely our strikers fault that we conceded and not our goalkeeper's? Welcome to the world of Mick McCarthy.
13

Gingerblues added 18:28 - Oct 24 Still defending a goalkeeper who lost us the same fixture, in the same way, at the same time of the match last season. Gerken is a liability. We have not been on a good run with him in goal. Bart was in goal for all of our success last season. Just how can MM not see Gerken's lack of command of his box is costing us?
28

muccletonjoe added 18:31 - Oct 24 Mm turning supporters against him in droves
10

battyblue added 18:32 - Oct 24 i am surprised Gerks can hold his head in his hands without dropping it clearly goalkeeping error again f time to get Bart back .
33

mickeyjb added 18:33 - Oct 24 With three of our four quality forwards on why are we not scoring? No service? Any positives? Well we scored and didn't loose so I guess we need to end on a positive note before another week of probable disappointment
2

airliner added 18:36 - Oct 24 Sick of this same old excuses !!!!!!
1

bluefeast added 18:37 - Oct 24 Devastated with the end of the game is all well and good , what worries me is that like everyone else we have played over the last 7 or 8 games we have been dominated. Forrest could and should of been 2.0 up at half time. Tactics or players i don't know , probably both.
7

airliner added 18:38 - Oct 24 It's just mad ,why can't our best strikers score its a total joke !!!!!
-1

battyblue added 18:39 - Oct 24 Sears is not a wide player put him down the middle wear he should be and he will get goals and assists ,keep Parr at full back twice the player of knudson infact just do what we have been saying for weeks and we may climb back up the table
7

manualthetisfanclub added 18:42 - Oct 24 Don't like the abuse about gerken, to be fair not a lot between him and Bart,although stats may say different.,and he played well up until the mistake,keeping us in it!!My main concern is other aspects of the team,inability to keep clean sheets, and serious lack of goal threat,either from midfield or our "potent" strikers which I find alarming, strikers have droughts in patches,not all 4 at once! This season could end up being a total disaster unless this alarming slide in form is not addresse!

-2

Pip50 added 18:43 - Oct 24 Sears was outstanding l know what let's take him off! Priceless.
7

airliner added 18:44 - Oct 24 It's just mad ,why can't our best strikers score its a total joke !!!!! This is a joke of a team , please stop saying we are unlucky and gerks was unlucky . Stop defending the squalid defending , sick of it now. Please leave you are devoid of ideas!!!! Not good not happy !!!
0

hinchers1066 added 18:45 - Oct 24 “Gerks is sat with his head in his hands" real shame it wasn't the ball in the last minute. Same old same old. "Freddie's been outstanding" then substituted so we can hang on. Didn't work again, did it. How many points have we thrown away this season already. Not for me to say is it as I am not a football manager, just a supporter who parts with his hard cash to be constantly disappointed. We are in freefall, over to you MM. go on surprise me, hasn't so far this season so I won't hold my breath!!!!

1

Keaneish added 18:54 - Oct 24 Happy with a point away at Forest. Happy with the starting line-up. Positive playing a 4-3-3 away from home. Very winnable next 5 games which will put us on a good run going into December.
9

airliner added 18:55 - Oct 24 Marcus Evans wake up this is a relegation type team, what's wrong with the other keeper, what's he done wrong. This is like Paul jewels team . Sad and disjointed !!!
2

jas0999 added 18:56 - Oct 24 The goalkeeper is at fault. Good shotstopper yes, but lacking in virtually every other department. What's devastating is one win in nine and the fact we wasted the summer signing average players, many of whom haven't improved the squad. No surprise as they cost next to nothing. Did Mick and Marcus really think that strategy would be successful? We are going backwards I'm afraid. Same old errors costing us. Same issues within the team. Vast improvement required and ASAP.

12

Bluetone added 18:56 - Oct 24 McCarthy the "its not the Gerkin its all them others" is wearing just a tad thin. If the others had confidence in him then things maybe would be different.
8

Warkys_Tash added 18:58 - Oct 24 Mick we are all devastated too, especially with a minute to go. I thought we had stopped all that. Forest must have thought it was Christmas. :-( :-( :-(
3

LordMamu added 18:58 - Oct 24 Johnny on the spot? Dinosaur drivel. One win in 10 now, isn't it? The trouble with ME is that all he looks at is whether a manager has got a team promoted from the championship before. Did the three teams that went up last season do that? No. We have an owner and a manager who show no lateral thinking and I'm bored of it. Can someone ask him why I should continue to drive 3 hours to every home game with the boy and 3 hours back to watch this shambles unfold? Why can't we show some ambition as a club? I'm glad MM was brought in to keep us up the first season but that should have been it. Get a young decent manager in (you know the kind that as a club we have had our most success with...Robson, Burley...) and dispense with Laurel and Hardy or we will be in a relegation scrap before you know it....I've been supporting this club for 37 years and I have never felt this annoyed even in the dark days we have had.

13

bluefeast added 18:59 - Oct 24 Keanish ,love your optimism however winnable games over the next 5 i think not. We are devoid of confidence , we are devoid in terms of retaining the ball ,we are devoid of communication in the back 5 i could go on ,but there is more chance that the opposition are saying this is how to play us.
9

airliner added 18:59 - Oct 24 We have a player in Murphy who can't buy a goal , mick a change a tactics is needed , can't support this shower any more its a joke. Score and can't win !!!!????
-1

SickParrot added 19:00 - Oct 24 1 win in last 9 games, 0 wins in last 6 games, 1 goal scored but 6 conceded in last 4 games. 21 conceded in 13 league games but still the same back 4. Probably the most boring team in the league and god knows when we will win again. 14 seasons in the Championship and more likely to drop into league 1 than get promoted. It is so hard being a Town supporter! We should be doing better with the players we have got but MM is no longer getting the best out of his squad. His favorite defenders are all nervous (not surprising with Gerkin in goal), his preferred midfielders offer no creativity and the strikers suffer from poor service. Can anyone offer me a crumb of comfort?

32

airliner added 19:02 - Oct 24 Forget and don't bother until mick is sacked
1

superblue70 added 19:08 - Oct 24 You must think we're all fools mm ,we all have eyes and can see what's coming we're only ever one cross away from disaster with gerkin in goal, the players are devastated, well so are we, at least they get paid very well for it.
9

prebbs007 added 19:09 - Oct 24 Gerken AGAIN !!! And how bad is Murphy !!! Keep picking your favourites though Mick coz they are in great form and we can't stop winning !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
6

Blogs 297 bloggers

Ipswich Town Polls