Town boss Mick McCarthy insisted that the Blues’ recent habit of securing late home wins isn’t part of a plan, but was nevertheless delighted that Brett Pitman’s 89th minute goal had given his team a 2-1 victory over Reading to see them back into sixth in the Championship.

Earlier, Ryan Fraser had put Town in front before Garath McCleary equalised for the Royals from the spot after Cole Skuse had brought down Hal Robson-Kanu.

“Great isn’t it? It’s not a cunning plan I’m using, believe me,” McCarthy said when asked about the Blues’ recent record of three last-gasp wins in their last four home games in the league. “And when the subs go on and contribute like that it’s brilliant.”

The Blues boss was delighted to see his substitutions pay off with Luke Varney coming off the bench to set up fellow sub Pitman: “I am, I’m chuffed for them as well. I’m chuffed for everybody actually, because it wasn’t a great game.

“I think they had a very good side, they’ve got some really good players. It was one of the hardest games we’ve had all season.

“I said to them at half-time, ‘Keep grinding it out if that’s what you have to do, we might nick it in the 90th minute’. That was one of my quotes. ‘And if you don’t win don’t get beaten’.

“It was tough at times and it was really scrappy but we showed endurance and resilience and kept going, which is a real quality of ours, which is much maligned sometimes unfortunately.”

McCarthy had praise for Varney’s pass which led to Pitman’s goal: “There was a good bit of quality in that, and Ryan’s goal as well.

“I’ve seen people have a really good slap at that with their right foot and panic. But he didn’t, he had another touch. Of course, it was scrappy, but he hit the target, didn’t he?”

He says Pitman, who has now netted nine goals this season, is unfortunate not to be starting: “He is [a terrific finisher] and he’s unlucky to be out of the team.

“I changed it at Brighton because we were 4-4-2. I changed it that day because I knew the way they might play and he’s not been in since.

“But what’s lovely about Brett is that he just gets on with it and comes on and scores the winner every now and then, which is great. But he wants to play, I get that.”

The Town manager had no complaints about Reading’s penalty, conceded when Cole Skuse made an uncharacteristically rash challenge, post-match at least.

“He was magnificent today, Cole Skuse,” McCarthy said. “He was unbelievably good, I thought. I was moaning like drain as usual that it wasn’t a penalty and I just said to him afterwards ‘Was it a penalty?’ and he pulled a face. That’s OK for me, that answered all my questions.”

Quizzed on the unusually flat Portman Road atmosphere, McCarthy joked: “I thought it was wonderful when we let them all back in on 89 minutes, I thought it was great!

“I just said, me and TC made more noise tonight, barking and shouting and growling. I hope it’s not a reflection on the fact that we’ve had a couple of defeats and we’re suddenly out of the top six.

“The top six is there to be had right until the last minute, as we know from last season. We need to stick together. We need that support, it’s been outstanding, the away support’s been just magnificent.

“I get that some nights it can be like that but I thought at one-all with 10 minutes to go that’s when you need that [backing from the crowd]. Anyway, we resurrected one or two in the 89th minute!”

Regarding the recent spate of late home winners, he added: “It’s becoming a habit of ours. You keep asking me what the difference is between the home record and the away record this year. I haven’t got a clue.

“And why we’re scoring late goals. I could say because we keep going, that’s the main thing. But I don’t know, it’s just a different season.

“It’s a different season which could end up with the same result with us being in the top six.

“And that’s with us not spending and taking loan players on 25 and 30 [grand] a week, it’s us with a great bunch of lads who are scrapping tooth and nail to get in it.”

Skuse thanked his former lodger Pitman, a team-mate from their Bristol City days, for saving his blushes.

"I had Pits living with me for six weeks at the start of the season so he’s repaid that tonight, and instead of paying me some rent he’s gone and dug me out of a hole,” the midfielder told Ipswich Player HD.

“I said to the lads and the gaffer after the game that I apologise for the silly tackle. It’s just one of those things and it was a daft one which I didn’t really need to make.

“Brett doesn’t like being called a ‘super sub’ so we’ve been calling him Ole Gunnar Solskjaer for a while!

“I thought all three subs made a difference tonight. Bru livened up the game, Varns came on and put himself about, won his headers while holding the ball up well and Pits got his goal.

“We’ve got lads on the comeback trail which will only make us stronger so our depth is there, the quality is there and I think we’ve proven it by getting ourselves back in the mix tonight.”

Reading manager Brian McDermott said the late goal was difficult to take after what he felt was a decent performance from his team.

“It’s tough to take but that’s the Championship for you,” he said. “We knew what the game was about, I think it’s 16 fixtures on a Tuesday night [at home] that they’ve won, so fair play to Mick and Ipswich.

“That’ll put them right in amongst it. It’s a sickener for us, but I can’t complain about the spirit, the effort and the guts that we showed.

"We showed guts to come back. It’s just unfortunate that we lost that goal late on.”

Photo: Action Images

Seasider added 20:30 - Feb 3 Mick said he told his team at half time to"Keep grinding it out,if that's what you have to do,and if you don't win don't get beaten" He went onto say that it was tough at times,and really scrappy;but we showed endurance. Liked the bit when he said that we let the crowd back in after 89 mins. The above sums up Mr McCarthy's attitude to the game and why the crowd was lowest of the season and quiet.He seems to revel in this siege mentality. Was it Wimbledon or Millwall who used to say everybody hates us but we don't care. Mick cares passionately for his players;but doesn't give a toss about what others think of him.His win ugly has so far got results as we are 6th;but to the detriment of attendances. Personally I didn't think the second half was too bad after Kevin Bru came on;but the first half,oh dear;but didn't expect anything else with a two man defensive midfield.

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derby123 added 21:55 - Feb 3 Seasider as discussed earlier reading only brought 200 fans with them. Had they of brought 500 plus as is normal with Tuesday night games. The attendance would have been over 17,000 which is not bad for a Tuesday night. Can't help but feel this is being used to twist a positive result into a negative to suit the anti-mick brigade. Was it pretty at times no I'm not denying that. But we're told by many on here why can't we play fast attacking football like derby etc. well that silky ticki-taka football led to 7 attempts on goal yesterday. None on target. All of that from a squad costing 25 million plus. So il happily take a scrappy 2.1 win everyday of the week.

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