Boot on the Other Foot for McCarthy Saturday, 6th Feb 2016 18:18 The boot was on the other foot for boss Mick McCarthy as the Blues were beaten by Matt Phillips’s last-gasp goal at QPR, Town having won three of their last four home league games - including the Boxing Day win against Rangers - in the final minutes. There was more bad news for the Blues in added-on time when Ryan Fraser limped off with what looked a bad hamstring injury. “They were miles better than us in the first half,” he admitted. “And we had a goalkeeper that was in world-class form, who has made save after save. “But that’s not had any bearing on the game because it was 0-0 at half-time. In the second half we were far better and I thought we were the ones likely to win it in the last few minutes. “So, I know how they feel, it’s always disappointing to lose but even more so with three minutes to go, eight minutes with the additional time. “We should never have allowed [Sebastian Polter] to get out of the middle of the pitch, he did handle it, he did control it with his hand. “That irks me a bit but I’m not bothered about that because I said to my players that they might not get a freekick from me in training for it and they’ve got to keep going. We didn’t deal with that in the middle of the pitch. “In the second half we were much better and how we didn’t score in the second half, in the last knockings goodness only knows. So, whatever happened in the first half has got no bearing on it.” McCarthy said the wind had a significant impact on the match: “I would say so. It wasn’t a great game, was it? It ended up being an exciting game because they’ve scored and we ended up with loads of chances at the end. It was a horrible affair because it was blowing and conditions were awful.” Late on the Blues lost Ryan Fraser to a hamstring injury, the on-loan Bournemouth man having been a doubt with a tight hamstring prior to the game. “It looks like a nasty hamstring, the way he’s pulled up,” the Blues boss said. “That’s not good. He’s been different class, the kid. That would be a real devastating blow to us. McCarthy says he could look to the loan market with Town having picked up one or two injuries in recent days. “Yes it might be something I look at, but I’m not so sure I’m going to get another Ryan Fraser," he said. “We’ll assess the damage and see what it is first. Let’s put the horse before the cart, shall we? “Skusey’s injured, I don’t know how badly that is, he’s hurt his ankle. Luke Hyam pulled up in training yesterday, he had a sore calf from Tuesday night. “He trained yesterday morning for about 40 minutes, the warm-up and game, and he just pulled up.” The Town manager says the injury Daryl Murphy suffered in the Reading game wasn’t why the Irish international was left on the bench. “That was nothing to do with it,” he said. “He had a kick on his ankle, but I’ve said with Murph all along, if he plays all the games we’ll end up with him injured. “My reason to play Luke Varney and Brett Pitman was that they came on and were brilliant coming on. “And if there’s a time to give somebody a start when they’re in the ascendancy and in good form and feeling good about themselves - one comes on and sets us up, the other scores the winner - that’s the time to do it. And they’ve deserved it, so that’s why I played them.” Town dropped down to seventh after today's results but McCarthy says that’s not particularly important at this stage of the season with 16 games left to play. “If you look our history from last year, we lost 3-2 at Blackburn and we ended up in the top six after the last game of the season, so it’s not really that significant. “It probably is in terms of when you look at the league as you want to be in the top six, but it’s where you end up in May that counts. The key is to try and end up in the top six, however it ends up.”
Keeper Bartosz Bialkowski, the Blues' man of the match for his first-half display in particular, said the late defeat was difficult to take. “We’ve still got a decent team and we still believe we can make the play-offs,” he told Ipswich Player HD. “Losing the game right at the end is really painful. It’s a hard one to take but that’s football. "The next game comes around really quickly so we just need to learn our lessons and defend better, especially in the final stages of the game. “In the first half they had a few chances, but in the second half we had a few chances so we’re really disappointed and it’s frustrating to lose the game in that way. “Our away support was absolutely amazing today and I think there were around 3,000 fans so fair play to them.” Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink was very satisfied with the win, his first at home as QPR manager. “When you see the first half and you go in 0-0 you have done yourself an injustice,” he said. “But I think we kept on being positive and kept on plugging away and kept on going and having the trust that we would be able to get that goal or get that chance. And we deserved that. “I think if you look at the game overall, we already deserved to be 2-0 or 3-0 up. But you know how it is, it’s nothing about deserving. You have to put the ball in the net, that’s what counts, that’s what’s important. “We kept on believing and we kept on plugging away and kept on going and it’s very satisfying that it came in the last five minutes because that tells me that the character is good and the organisation is good and they’re not getting in trouble as much. “It was a difficult afternoon for both sides with the wind and the conditions. At stages you have to put the ball in the stands because you don’t want to give yourself too much trouble and I think we did that very well.”
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