Town boss Mick McCarthy hailed an excellent team performance as well as sub Andre Dozzell’s excellent display as a sub following the Blues’ 2-1 home victory over Bristol City. Brett Pitman’s brilliant 86th minute overhead kick beat the Jersey-born frontman’s former side.

“I thought it was an excellent team performance, the only mark on it was the goal we gave away,” McCarthy said.

“We seem to get punished for every mistake we make at the moment, but I thought it was a terrific performance.”

He added: “I said on Thursday that we had to get back to our identity which is being hard to play against and certainly being more forceful, and that was definitely the case.

“And it was a gutsy performance bearing in mind we conceded the goal and the way we conceded it and to continue and get the win, I think it shows the team spirit amongst them.”

McCarthy was delighted with both the goals: “Kevin Bru, he should score more goals, he’s a quality player.

“And the winner is terrific. Brett is a finisher, a goalscorer. It’s sod’s law, isn’t it, scoring against your old team, it happens to me, it’s usually the opposite way around.”

But the Blues manager saved most of his praise for 17-year-old Dozzell, who put in his most impressive performance for the first team so far having come off the bench in the 72nd minute.

“Andre Dozzell came on and gave a masterclass, he had his laser working tonight, didn’t he?,” McCarthy enthused.

“The first question I’ll get asked is ‘Why don’t you play him from the start?’. Because it’s all turgid and horrible and he gets smashed around and he has to chase back, but when it opens up [as it did in tonight’s game] you can see his wonderful passing range.

“Some of his passes were just sublime. We know we’ve got a player, it’s just the games he can play in. And he’s playing in a three, not in a two, he was good.”

Reflecting further on the game, he continued: “I thought they’d play 4-4-2 and we were back at what we’re good at, stopping the opposition playing and then playing when we’ve got it, unashamedly.

“We haven’t been doing it. I think teams have enjoyed playing against us recently. In the past we were always the hardest team to play against.

“Pits would tell us that when we played Bournemouth they hated playing against us. We’ve got to get back to that and I think we did this evening.”

With the last few games having ended with boos from the home support, McCarthy was pleased that cheers greeted tonight’s final whistle.

“Only we can turn that around,” he added. “I walked out and I got some lovely support walking up the track. I also got some boos as well and some jeers, but I understand that, they want to see the team win.

“I talked about the reasons why that is the other day. And only we can turn it around and get it to cheers and support.

“And we did this evening, I thought it was a good performance. I think the fans appreciated it. And thank goodness they’ve seen a win from the last game of 2016.”

Bristol City manager Lee Johnson admitted that the Blues deserved the three points: “It was a fair result. The Championship is a tough league and the finish deserved the three points.

“We changed it at half-time to try and get a foothold in the game as I didn’t think it looked like we were going to score in the first half.

“We now have to dust ourselves down and go again. We are not a bad side, we are just lacking a little bit of confidence.

“Every defeat, except Brighton, has been by just one goal, but we now need to tip that into our favour. I think we now need to tweak our personnel a little in January.”

Regarding his former team-mate Pitman’s goal, he added: “He’s a good guy, a good lad, but obviously I’m not his friend when we’re playing football.

“It was a great finish, but Brett Pitman’s been doing that in the Championship for a long time now.”

Photo: TWTD

jabberjackson added 23:11 - Dec 30 In mick we trust?
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RoyalAscotBlue added 23:19 - Dec 30 No, jabberjackson... we do not.
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StringerBell added 23:21 - Dec 30 You got lucky McCarthy, you still don't have a clue what you're doing.
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Surco72 added 23:25 - Dec 30 If he had selected Dozzell for more games rather than Douglas who MM rated as a goal scorer we wouldn't have been in a relegation 3pointer tonight . This team should be higher in league and is being held back by MM
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WhoisJimmyJuan added 23:26 - Dec 30 Mick. That was a better performance. No more.
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hairbear added 23:27 - Dec 30 Super, Super Mick....
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londonben added 23:33 - Dec 30 I was very critical of his selections and tactics on Boxing Day so it's only fair to say now that I think he got it spot on today. Two pacy wingers, skuse holdin, bru being creative and mcgoldrick driving in behind the striker...we actually looked like a football team with a plan today. Kenlock was superb today, as was Dozzel off the bench. Don't mind losing a few if we play like that with that team, was genuinely fun watching the lads lay today and that's the first time in a while I can say that! Hopefully mick will learn from this that if we actually set up to play some football and win we have the players and the confidence to do it...still not convinced he will stick to this mentality but if he does then I believe he can take us forwards.

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londonben added 23:35 - Dec 30 *several stupid words in there, phone making some interesting autocorrects...apologies!
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parkinshair added 23:39 - Dec 30 An improved performance and team selection but lets not forget this was Bristol City not Newcastle a team struggling for form and lacking in confidence much like ourselves. We have the nucleus of a very good Ipswich side in our younger players but it's still bloated with yesterday's men managed by yesterday's man. It will take a lot more than tonight to mend broken Ipswich unfortunatly.

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rfretwell added 23:39 - Dec 30 Andre is going to be one helluva player once he bulks up. He has all the creativity we never get from Skuse and Douglas. Still Bristol City had three good chances to score, two in the first half. Fortunately poor finishing let us off the hook. Webster completely dominant in the air and one thrilling break forward with the ball into their penalty area near the end. Kenlock did very well again and kept the left side locked down most of the match. Showed some nice skill breaking forward. Fantastic overhead kick by Pitman sent the fans him happy but no Chambo fist pump - abuse from our fans at Wigan has put paid to that for a while.

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Mark added 23:40 - Dec 30 It was a better performance against a Bristol side in terrible form, I wouldn't say excellent, but an important 3 points to keep us away from the relegation zone. We tried to play football throughout and it was nice to see us have the majority of possession and shots on target. Superb finish from Pitman, who was unlucky with a similar effort just after Bristol nearly scored an own goal. Brett will score if we feed him chances, so that is a positive. Dozzell and Sears looked very good when coming on, and Kenlock did well all match so should definitely keep his place ahead of Knudsen. Mick said "We seem to get punished for every mistake we make at the moment" - I don't agree with that as in both this week's home games we rode our luck and survived many chances, plus at Wigan we were fortunate to get the win. It's nice to end the year with a win, 11 points above the relegation zone, and only 2 points behind Norwich. Maybe we can pick up from here, introduce some young players, strengthen the squad with more (young) additions in January and go on a Cup run. Here's hoping. Happy New Year!

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Walk_the_Wark added 23:45 - Dec 30 But Mick, OUR IDENTITY is to play attractive, passing football. YOUR identity is to scrap and be hard to play against. There's a difference...
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Walk_the_Wark added 23:47 - Dec 30 Its really funny how all the Mick Lovers come on gloating when we win the odd game.... What a bunch of short sighted idiots you are
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carsey added 23:47 - Dec 30 Please remember we were playing Bristol City not Chelsea. Yes we won and I am grateful for the 3 points but we are a long way from being anything other than a very average 2nd division team. Until McCarthy changes his style, stops being so arrogant and selects the players in their natural position or better still bu%%ers off nothing will change and every season the same thing will happen.

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ArnieM added 00:04 - Dec 31 When a team is low on confidence, struggling to get their game together ANY win is a valuable one no matter how it happens. The next monkey to.get off our backs is being able to achieve back to back wins. Despite how many of us feel about Micks style of football, it beggars belief that quite a few on.hete tonight appear upset that we actually won. FFS some of you, grow a pair and man up!!

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shakytown added 00:06 - Dec 31 Big question is wll the moron learn anything??? Douggie will be back and knudsen. No idea at all. Mick out!!!!!!
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micky_1560 added 00:55 - Dec 31 Football is so fickle, how would we have felt if we had only drawn the game. We didn't, we won and that appears to make things better? For me it is about what happens now with team selections and who we get in. So glad we appear to have played better, but I still see us winning a few, losing a few and mid table at the end of the season. COYB
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prebsa added 01:02 - Dec 31 The mick lovers are out in force tonight. Gcon is back haven't see him/her around in a while! Still no shout of essex57 though
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brian_a_mul added 01:35 - Dec 31 Good performance, 3 pts and giving the youngsters a chance when appropriate. Let's hope we can build on this
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Carberry added 01:48 - Dec 31 How do you give a masterclass in 18 minutes?
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GatesofDelirium added 05:15 - Dec 31 Newsflash for WalktheWark - just because people don't agree with your opinions does not make them idiots. It's also noticeable that when we win most of your Mick Out acolytes don't bother posting. It's as if they're only happy when we lose and they're venting their spleens. Now I know that's not true, as we're all Ipswich fans, and MM has certainly deserved most of the criticism thrown at him (which he accepts to his credit), but today's performance was good considering confidence is low as recent results have been disappointing. We have three winnable games to start 2017. Let's get behind the team and turn this season around. Happy New Year & COYB!

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WhoisJimmyJuan added 05:55 - Dec 31 Well said Gatesofdelirium. It's a forum. People are actually allowed to have a view. I am unhappy with the way the club is going. I am not an MM fan. But no - one is an idiot for just stating their view. In Wa*k the Wa*k's case however his post is simply ironic. Don't sound like an idiot if you're calling others idiots.
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blues1 added 06:13 - Dec 31 Sorry guys but whether it Mick in or Mick out and I'm definitely out makes no difference. Yet again he's talking rubbish. A great performance? Other than a 10-15 min spell leading up to the winning goal we couldn't put 2 passes together. Defensively we did Ok, but this was against a very poor Bristol team. As for Dozzell? Yer he did ok, certainly improved the passing in the team but a masterclass? Dream on. And I have to say that Kenlock had an excellent game. So in all, yes, a better performance but still a long way from being great. Welcome 3 points tho

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blue75 added 06:24 - Dec 31 Yes we were the better team and I'm glad we won. But it was Bristol who like QPR are absolute pants and we should be beating teams like that. Was our passing that great in the first half no it was long and slow. Before Bru scored how many shots had we had on target 0. We played good football when Dozzell and Sears came on amazing what happens when players are played in their correct positions. To those whole think the leopard has change his spots don't get carried away Skuse Douglas will be back.

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martin587 added 07:05 - Dec 31 Lets just hope we can improve on this, well done lads.
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