Town’s EFL Cup run ended at the first round stage after Stevenage left Portman Road having picked up a deserved 1-0 win, Ben Kennedy scoring the winner in the 53rd minute.

Boss Mick McCarthy named a stronger than usual cup side, although still featuring seven changes from the team which beat Barnsley 4-2 on Saturday.

Dean Gerken was in goal with one-time Stevenage loanee Tommy Smith and Paul Digby at the heart of the defence and Jonas Knudsen and skipper Luke Chambers the full-backs.

In midfield Kevin Bru and Jonathan Douglas lined-up in deeper central roles behind Andre Dozzell, who was between them and striker Freddie Sears, with Conor Grant on the left and weekend hat-trick hero Grant Ward on the right. Last week’s two new signings were both making their full debuts.

Bartosz Bialkowski, David McGoldrick, Teddy Bishop, Christophe Berra and Cole Skuse were on a strong bench, while academy striker Ben Morris, 18, was named among the senior subs for the first time.

After a tentative first 10 minutes the visitors were the first to threaten, Tom Conlon crossing from the right and Luke Wilkinson looping a header over.

Town’s first opportunity came in the 16th minute when Dozzell sent Sears away on the right. The former Colchester man crossed towards Douglas, who stooped to head low past Stevenage keeper Jamie Jones’s right post.

Saturday’s star man Ward struck his first effort of the evening in the 25th minute but the ball deflected wide for a corner.

Two minutes later Boro’s Kennedy bludgeoned his way through a couple of tackles on the edge of the box but was unable to make significant contact with his shot and it failed to test Gerken.

On 33, with Town starting to look more dangerous, Sears was crowded out on the left. The loose ball fell to Knudsen but the Danish international screwed his volley well wide.

Bru sent Sears away on the right of the area with a clever pass three minutes later but the former Colchester man’s shot flew wide.

Knudsen burst away down the left in the 37th minute and crossed, but the ball hit Dozzell on the heel as he looked to volley goalwards. Soon after, Bru curled a freekick over after Grant had been fouled.

A minute before the break, Stevenage’s Conlon struck the first half’s only shot on target from a freekick just outside the area to the right. However, Gerken got down to his right to firmly punch the ball away from goal.

That was the last significant action of a not overly enthralling 45 minutes played in a pre-season atmosphere in front of Portman Road's lowest League Cup crowd for 20 years.

After a quiet start, the Blues gradually began to threaten sporadically but had failed to force Stevenage keeper Jones into a save.

McCarthy swapped Dozzell, who had rather drifted out of the game after a bright start, ahead of the second half as the Blues moved to 4-4-2.

Four minutes after the restart McGoldrick teed up Bru 20 yards out and the Mauritian international hit Town’s first shot on target. However, Jones was able to claim with relative ease.

Smith was booked in the 50th minute after bringing Kennedy down as he burst towards the area on the Stevenage right. The Blues’ centre-half was probably a touch unfortunate as the clash had appeared to be little more than a tangle of legs.

Gerken palmed Conlon’s freekick behind at his near post and from the resultant corner Chambers nodded Wilkinson’s header behind.

And from that flag-kick the visitors went in front. Town initially cleared but Charlie Lee won the ball off Ward as he looked to break. The former Peterborough man’s shot was deflected and the wrong-footed Gerken was only able to save with a toe and Kennedy stabbed home the rebound.

McGoldrick looked to hit back on 55, curling a strike from distance wide. The visitors made their first change six minutes later with Andrew Fox replacing Dean Wells.

Grant forced Jones into a save to his left with a powerful strike on 65 after a spell of Blues possession.

A minute later, Stevenage almost went two in front. Bru’s shot was blocked on the edge of the visitors’ box and Rowan Liburd spun away from Digby on halfway, leaving the centre-half in his wake. The striker burst into the area but Gerken quickly came off his line to block his shot.

Bishop replaced Bru for Town on 69, then two minutes later McGoldrick hit a well-struck shot which Jones palmed behind.

A mix-up between Knudsen and Gerken as the Dane sought to deal with a cross from the left almost led to an opening for Boro soon afterwards but the full-back was eventually able to clear. On 77 Lee was booked for a foul on Bishop.

Ward saw a shot blocked at one end, then Kennedy went well over from distance for the League Two club, whose skipper Ronnie Henry was booked for a foul on the former Spurs winger as the game moved into its final scheduled 10 minutes.

The Blues finally began to look more threatening, Grant and Knudsen saw shots blocked, then McGoldrick curled into Jones’s arms.

Another Ward strike was blocked and with two minutes left on the clock McGoldrick curled another effort wide.

Knudsen’s low cross from the left just wouldn’t fall for Ward, then after good work from the ex-Tottenham man Sears’s shot was blocked.

The fourth official signalled five additional minutes and soon after Digby flicked a header to Jones from a Knudsen cross.

Deep into injury time McGoldrick’s cross from the right fell to Bishop but he scraped his shot well wide.

That was the last action of Town’s 2016/17 EFL Cup campaign with Stevenage claiming a victory over the Blues at this stage of the competition for the second time in four seasons. It's the 10th time in 14 seasons that the Blues have gone out of the competition to opposition from a lower league.

Town never dominated the game in the manner that a Championship side - even one with seven changes - ought to do against a League Two team with the performance as flat as the atmosphere and there seemed little urgency until injury time.

While the Blues had opportunities, they were almost entirely shots from distance with no real clear-cut chances carved out, and even with the longer range efforts Stevenage keeper Jones was comfortable. The visitors might even have added to their lead but for Gerken’s save from Liburd.

Boss McCarthy’s cup record with Town now reads a mere two wins from 13 ties, both in this competition last season.

Town are next in action at Brentford on Saturday when they will be looking to add to Saturday’s 4-2 opening day victory over Barnsley and improve greatly on this evening’s display.

Town: Gerken, Chambers (c), Digby, Smith, Knudsen, Douglas, Bru (Bishop 69), Dozzell (McGoldrick 46), Grant, Ward, Sears. Unused: Bialkowski, Berra, Kenlock, Skuse, Morris.

Stevenage: Jones, Franks, Wilkinson, McAnuff, Liburd (Godden 71), Kennedy, Gorman, Wells, Lee, Henry (c), Conlon (Tonge 88). Unused: Day, Fox, Pett, Hyde, Donnellan. Referee: Charles Breakspear (Surrey). Att: 6,858 (Boro: 245).

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martleshamitfc added 22:25 - Aug 9 oh well Brentford lost at Exeter and had to play an extra 30 mins. , should be an easy win for us Saturday!! lol
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TractorBoy666 added 22:26 - Aug 9 First time in a while I haven't bothered with a capital one cup tie as McCarthy hardly bother, nor the team so why should we! Sounded very dire on the radio, short of ideas, defensively shakey with not much in the way of creativity. Our full backs are nowhere near attacking enough and can't attack, especially with Chambers who will never be the answer at RB. Knudsen tries but his end product is way off.

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BillBlue added 22:27 - Aug 9 Sorry Penguinblue, gave you a down arrow by mistake, it was meant to be up!
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jcITFC added 22:28 - Aug 9 On top of the result...anyone notice the attendance was 4,000 less than last year?
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essex57 added 22:37 - Aug 9 I marked it down because I don't agree about the McGoldrick Murphy comment with regards to Sears I wasn't there as I stated but from what I gather he played down the middle tonight as people have been calling for and he had a shocker perhaps he's just an average championship player that's why no one ever puts a bid in for him.
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runaround added 22:42 - Aug 9 Our annual embarrassing early league cup exit returns after a years absence. Have to say Stevenage fully deserved their victory & their front 2 played very well whilst they defended well. I don't think we were that bad actually but were missing a target man & found it hard to play through their packed defence. Had we taken one of the 3 chances in the first half from Douglas, Dozzell or Sears I think we would have won easily but we paid the price in the end. Disappointing but I would prefer to lose tonight than a league game. Talk my daughter tonight to her first game & she enjoyed it despite the result & kept up the family tradition of the first ITFC match they attend ending in defeat

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portmanteau added 22:44 - Aug 9 Don't blame the players, they are obeying orders. It cannot be a coincidence that we lose these cup matches with monotonous regularity. Coupled with MM's known scorn of cup competitions you can only conclude that he makes this clear to his players.
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Umros added 22:45 - Aug 9 Glad I stuck two fingers up by saving my cash tonight, utter disgrace. Surely the worst result in the clubs history on paper.
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essex57 added 22:48 - Aug 9 Jcitfc you didn't have to be in the observer corps to know there was only a few thousand there Brenner Wooley reminded everyone who wasn't at the game at least 10 times.
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essex57 added 22:53 - Aug 9 Rubbish portmenteau I think there's a few players who played to nite you will not be seeing much of in the near future Gherkin and Douglas to start with and perhaps Tommy Smith.
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manualthetisfanclub added 23:05 - Aug 9 Can't comment on the game as didn't go, not surprised by result either! Goes to show squad is still very weak and going nowhere again!
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Geoff added 23:07 - Aug 9 Once again when will the dinosaur learn you cannot make seven changes against any side when they go out with a full strength team. This is not a one off he treats all cups with disrespect our once great tradition has gone. More worrying is our strikers are not scoring and i to wonder where the goals are coming fro, i really fear the budgie game coming up for the first time in many years.1000 season tickets down they cannot all be wrong. this club is going nowhere under this horrible regime.

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oldegold added 23:08 - Aug 9 I think McCarthy should walk.It is beyond embarrassment and fans should demand their money back as in the cups, he is shortchanging the public alike and after the Portsmouth FA Cup debacle I decided enough was enough in the cups. He doesn't give two hoots to the Ipswich public demanding a cup run and the excitement and I imagine the money it would bring in.My son refuses to go to Portman Rpad now because the football is so dire and he's 14. It's more of the same as in past seasons: tactically woeful, boring and sterile football and players played out of position. Please go...your time and your style of football is up.

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StowTractorBoy added 23:10 - Aug 9 That Ipswich Town was absolutely pathetic and we made Stevenage who lost at home to Crewe on Saturday look good. When will MM learn that you cannot make 7 changes and expect a decent display. Many other Clubs have done the same tonight and gone the same way as us but that does not help how I feel tonight and that is disgusted. Whatever has happened to Freddie Sears as he is nowhere near the player we first signed. All the raving about Digby baffles me as he was very shaky and Butcher was spot on when he says we need full backs that can attack as well as defend. Douglas looks out of his depth and without Murphy up top we have no out ball. McGoldrick was a bright spark and will get better when fully fit. I could go on about each individual player but the thing that most annoys me is that the team were just not up for it tonight and we as fans deserve much more than tonights woeful effort. Rant over.

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head1970 added 23:15 - Aug 9 I don't want anyone telling me that the 11 that finished SATs game can't have started tonight McCarthy is a joke p***ed off.
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goat_man added 23:27 - Aug 9 To be honest, there's not much between the championship and league 2 and the difference can often come down to one player...that player is Jonathan Douglas. Other than Owen Garvan you'd have to go a long way in the football league to find such a pathetic excuse for a footballer as him. If Bru had started in midfield last season instead of Douglas, we would have had the points required to finish in the playoffs. Small margins make all the difference....

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beornioblue added 23:29 - Aug 9 I made the mistake tonight of taking my American brother in law to watch his first ever live football game and his comments when we left were "is your goal keeper scared of the ball" "why don't you ever seem to pass the ball forwards on the ground" and best of all "the player wearing 22 (Douglas) does he actually get paid to play this game" !!! I don't think I could sum it up any better , for a man who has never been to a live game of English football to come out with those comments !!! Mick seriously sort the squad out because fair play to Stevenage they deserved it but to a man I'd rather have them in my team than Douglas !!! He is an actual embarrassment to this once proud footballing club

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Walk_the_Wark added 23:33 - Aug 9 OK. I will continue to moan. Things will only improve when this idiot leaves our club!!!
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budgieplucker added 23:39 - Aug 9 First half wasn't a bad game at all, to be fair to Stevenage they didn't try to spoil the game at all in the first 45 minutes and both teams moved the ball around with some purpose. Town just had no cutting edge at the front, Freddie made some good runs into the channel but we lacked a physical presence and a punchy centre forward. Concur with Terry Butchers comments about Freddie being rusty in that position because he has been played out wide for too long. For me Connor Grant was our best player over the 90 minutes and some of his touch play was very pleasing on the eye. We did try to play a better style of football but the whole team is not necessarily on the same wavelength. I actually thought Kevin Bru and Andre Dozzel had a good first 30. minutes in moving play around and interchanging. Andre faded and Bru cannot hit a barn door with a shot and really has to provide more purpose in his game in the last third of the pitch. I don't think we learned much more than we already know. Gerkin unlikely to seriously threaten Bart and needs not to go to ground to quickly. Digby struggles at this level and the fact that Barnsley were prepared to let him go says something. Tommy Smith failed to dominate and lead the back four and was troubled a few times by the league two forwards, this perhaps was a bit of a surprise. Our fullbacks are very limited, especially going forward. Teddy needs some slack he cannot do it all on his own. Douglas was anonymous for much of the match. Didzy match rusty, no lack of effort but easily gets frustrated with himself, hopefully he is working his way back to his earlier form. To be fair to MM on paper this wasn't a bad lineup and should have coped with Stevenage not necessarily comfortably but should have had enough to have not lost the tie. I think we could be excused for expecting more from some of the more senior players.

8

BrettenhamBlue added 23:51 - Aug 9 Well done Stevenage, dependent on the next draw they have an extra 125k-300k to spend plus the same again if they make it through the next round. For some clubs the cup competitions make a huge difference to their finances. For us it could have meant an extra signing. Nice one team.
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mos added 00:27 - Aug 10 Sorry penguin, A load of other championship teams lost in their cup ties too Yet, you want McCarthy out. Who would we get in? McCarthy out isn't the solution, yes, it's appalling, but getting rid of McCarthy because of 1 cup game is quite childish. Unless you have other reasons, then that's fair enough. Everyone's get their opinion.
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jonnnywilliams added 01:00 - Aug 10 Can we please get finidi george back?
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prebbs007 added 06:08 - Aug 10 Guys and Girls let's all please be realistic. Our SQUAD is shockingly bad and league 2 standard at best. Gerken is a joke. Our two fullbacks (boring I know as I've said it numerous times) are the worst in the division. Chambers is a liability and Knudsen's end product and delivery with hand or foot is abysmal. Digby rarely got in Barnsley team says it all, Smith regularly makes errors a solid championship defender should never make lacks pace touch and ability. Douglas should never wear the shirt again and Bru flatters to deceive again and again. As for Freddie well where has the goalscorer gone ? You've ruined him dinosaur. He's forgotten what it's like to play centre forward and looks totally bereft of confidence. He's not good enough for this division. Our first choice XI struggled to beat Barnsley and if we fail to beat Brentford who are somewhat in disarray at the moment we then get a run of tough games. I really really hope I'm wrong but I fear strongly for this season. We have at best 3 or 4 players maximum who are capable of competing at the top of this division and we will be found out very soon. Please don't let the 21st be the big thrashing that someone is going to give us very soon. Whilst this group of owner MD and manager are in control we are in trouble. The tax dodger, pointless individual and dinosaur make the decisions then we fail to progress. 6k crowd says it all. 3 points Saturday masks the huge task we face. 8-1 to be relegated looks good odds with this squad. Wish I could wake up and this nightmare is just a dream. ITFC forever, just wish it was a different better ITFC

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battyblue added 06:09 - Aug 10 McCarthy has destroyed Sears with continually playing him out of position all last season and more he has turned him into a hard worker with no end product as he has with others and things will not change until he goes,,,,,the sooner the better in my eyes.
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battyblue added 06:37 - Aug 10 essex57 you make me laugh at some of your comments...do you really believe a striker played out of position for longer than i can remember with the ethic of work hard,run around get back to defend instruction from the manager can suddenly be reinstated in his once natural position and expected to do what he did when he joined us in a instance,,Sears i am tacking about if you didn't realise our once lethal striker Fecked up by excuse for a manager.

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