Town boss Mick McCarthy says his side had to work hard to eke out their 1-0 home win against Nottingham Forest, Ben Pringle netting the game’s only goal after 63 minutes.

“We had to work for everything,” he said. “They’ve got good players, they’re a good side, they proved that in the first half.

“They’re far from mugs. The players that they’ve got injured, if they get them back then they’ll be a good squad.

“We’ve had to just eke out a win, whatever it took today. It took a bit of perseverance and a bit of doggedness from Foles [Kevin Foley] but a bit of quality as well.

“He was up behind it, nicked it in the first place and then persevered and Prings, it was a good tackle and it ended up in the net. The lads have given him all that already!”

He added: “They missed a few chances in the first half, they hit the crossbar with a header, another went over and Bart’s made a couple of good saves, certainly in the first half.

“I think we’ve played some good football today, the irony of it is. In the second half we were better and we scored. That’s the upshot of it in my book, and we kept a clean sheet.”

McCarthy singled out home debutant Foley for praise: “Foles I thought was great, I thought he was terrific.

"It’s irked me because I keep getting asked about the loan market and what we’re going to do.

“I’ve signed Kev and he’s travelled around with us, I’ve signed Ben Pringle on loan and that’s been great, but I do believe that if you’ve got players in-house who have travelled up and down all over the country and been to all the other places that we’ve been to and have been supporting the others, that they deserve to play.

“And I think I’ve been well-rewarded with that because they’re a good squad. I thought Foles was excellent.

“Kev’s one of them that’s played right-back, left-back, centre midfield, wide right, he’s a very competent footballer. He understands the game, he can go and play and he’s technically very good.

“He’s done loads of roles but his two performances at Huddersfield and today have been excellent.

“I thought he played well at Bristol City actually. I thought he was one of the ones all the game, Kevin. He’s a proper footballer Kev. He understands the game, he’s a really good pro. And I think you’ve all spoken to him and know what a nice fella he is as well.”

The Town boss explained why Daryl Murphy and Jonathan Douglas missed out: “Murph’s got a calf strain, he was never playing.

“Dougie had four stitches in his foot at the end of the game last week having played with it for the last 10 minutes of the first half and the whole of the second half. It was a nasty cut.

“He could have padded it and he could have played, he wanted to play, but I wouldn’t let him because we are a bit thin on the ground.

“Had he trained on Friday and it had split open he may not have been fit for today and then he might not have been fit for Tuesday and, who knows, if he’d done it badly enough he might not have been fit for Saturday.

“It was my decision not to play him and I was well rewarded with Luke Hyam and Kevin Foley, they were great. Dougie will be fit for Tuesday, as will Skusey, but I don’t know about Murph yet.”

He dismissed suggestions that Murphy’s absence changed his team’s approach - “Not really” - but says the Blues expected to play a more patient game having seen Forest in previous matches.

“They changed, actually,” McCarthy continued. “We worked all week on that because I thought they might sit back in and they did in the second half. They had the best of the first half.

“We’ve played some really good football this year. Sadly, just lately, because we’ve been under the cosh a bit and we’ve lost players, maybe we have gone a bit back to front far too much, but that’s not been the plan.

“We’ve always got that if Murph’s in. If Freddie’s in we’ve got pace, you can turn them. Interestingly enough, it’s much maligned, but if you analyse the goals that we’ve scored, the goal at Huddersfield was stuck in behind their centre-half.

“It wasn’t a long ball, but nevertheless we turned him around and we won it. And against Reading we won the game and both goals came from turning their defence around.

“It’s not rocket science but I think we’ve not been playing well and we’ve ended up being a bit safe, just pumping it up and that’s not us.”

Last week McCarthy said he was sick of talking about the play-offs - “When I go out you can talk about them all you like,” he joked today - and says that while others were panicking that the season was over a few weeks ago when the Blues lost three in a row he remained level-headed.

“What has been my demeanour been like over the last few weeks while it’s been going bonkers and [people have been saying] we’re out of it, what have I been saying?

“And I’ll not be going out and getting langers drunk because we’re one point off the play-offs. I’ll carry on doing what I’m doing.”

Andre Dozzell, 16, was on the bench but McCarthy says it wasn’t the time to hand the England U17 international captain his debut.

“It wasn’t the game for him to go on, that’s for sure,” McCarthy added. “That’s one of those. If we’d been winning 3-0 there might be a chance for him to go on.

“Heaven forbid, if we’d been losing 3-0 it might have been a free one where you say ‘Go on, get your debut, it’s got nothing to do with you, we’re not going to win the game’ and introduce him for the last 10 minutes. A bit of a free substitute really.

“I do feel that if it was a wide open game and it wasn’t as tough and physical as that one was today, he could go on and cause a real problem. He spots a pass and he is technically very good.

“But we were hanging on for a one-nil-er, it wasn’t his day today. But it’s great that he’s on the bench. He’s done well, he’s training great, he’s trained with the first team as well now.”

Forest manager Dougie Freedman was disappointed with the result but not his side’s performance and blamed poor finishing for their defeat.

“We felt in the first half we had three or four fantastic opportunities and created enough chances to win the game and our inability to take them is crucifying us right now,” he said.

“The second half was more of an even game I felt. It still could have gone either way but somehow Ipswich managed to scramble that goal.

“We then found ourselves chasing the game. I brought on a couple of younger players, one a debutant, because that’s what we’ve got and we just huffed and puffed in the end.

“But it was down to the inability to take our chances. I thought we played well, I’ve got no real problems with how we played, none at all. I thought we passed the ball very well.”

Photo: Action Images

Seasider added 17:05 - Mar 6 Agree Gerkens Beard that Skuse shouldn't be put straight back in as Foley was always looking for the ball,finding space and linking the back with front;which has been missing from our play for so long. Every time Skues has been out,other players have filled in;but as soon as he is fit MM puts him straight back in;so it would be nice to see Mick have same policy for out field players as he does with his goalkeepers. Enjoyed game yesterday,with passing on ground to own players,and good movement from Foley and Pringle. As usual though Bart my m.o.m,just,over Ben Pringle and Christophe Berra

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