Town boss Mick McCarthy felt his side “probably deserved to win” their 2-2 home draw with Reading after a performance which was a vast improvement on Tuesday’s “unpalatable and unacceptable” display as the Blues were comprehensively beaten 3-0 by Derby County at Portman Road.

“It was certainly a really good, positive reaction from Tuesday night having been comfortably beaten,” McCarthy said.

“That performance was unpalatable and unacceptable and today’s was completely different.

“I made a few changes, I think the new faces have helped, they’ve certainly livened the place up and have given us all a bit more of a spark.

“I thought today’s performance was great and, I’m not one to see things through rose-coloured specs, I think we probably deserved to win it.

“But it’s sod’s law, a 35-yarder flew in the bottom corner. I thought we had good chances, it was a good performance all-round today.”

Town’s star man was once again Tom Lawrence, who took his total to 10 goals, eight in his last eight games, having scored eight of Town’s last nine goals.

“He has [been in top form],” McCarthy added. “I’ve said before, we’d have been up a very muddy river without a paddle if he hadn’t have been here, pretty much up ‘poo creek’ if he wasn’t here with his goals.

“I love the fact our fans are singing ‘Sign him on, sign him on’, which would be lovely, we all want that.

“There was interest in him in the window, but he wants to play in the Premier League and I think that’s where his future will be because he’s such a good player.

“He’s got really good attributes over and above just being a good player, he’s tough, he works hard, he’s very, very good.

“I just whispered to Tom on the way out there, I just said ‘I don’t think you have to worry about your future, Tom. I think it’s pretty bright, mate! You’ll be fine'.”

The Welshman, who is on loan with the Blues for the season from Leicester, was hobbling at one point and McCarthy admits he was concerned whether he would be OK to be involved after the break.

“He got a really nasty kick on his instep,” he added. “He’d got a big lump like an egg on his instep, he had ice on it at half-time. I was concerned that he might not come out but he did and he got his second goal.

“He said he was all right, it was sore, he got a really nasty bump on it and bruise on it, but he never gave any indication he wasn’t going to come out, he’s pretty tough, Tom.”

McCarthy felt Lawrence and David McGoldrick combined well: “I thought they were a good pairing up front today. They both worked very, very hard. Tom’s got his goals but I thought Didzy was a really good partner for him.”

While the Blues may not have signed made the signing of the experienced striker to replace Daryl Murphy in the transfer window, McCarthy made seven additions during the window and new loanees Toumani Diagouraga and Emyr Huws and Steven Taylor, who signed short-term deal, all made an impact.

“Not everything turned to gold in terms of what we’re trying to do,” he admitted. “But what’s been nice is the ones that have come in and made an impact. It doesn’t matter where they’ve come from or how much they’ve cost, they want to be here.

“Whether it’s starting out on a career in pro football like Danny Rowe or coming to resurrect a career and get it going again like Toums or Emyr Huws, who I thought we excellent, the pair of them. It doesn’t matter, they want to be here and they’ve given the place a lift.”

He added: “I thought Emyr was excellent today, it’s just kind of sad that it’s the three loan players that have ripped it up for us.

“I thought Tom did, I thought Toums was excellent, I thought Emyr was. Steven Taylor as well was very good, although he’s not a loan player.

“I thought they were good, I took a bit of a risk with them because they’ve not played a lot of games and they’d probably run out of gas, which was why we’ve had to put the two lads on at the end. But the contribution was very good.”

Is there a provision in those loan deals for the moves to potentially become permanent moves in the summer?

“No, there’s not,” the Town boss added. “The thing that’s in the loan deals is whether they come here and they like it, they love it enough to want to come and the other clubs don’t love them enough that they want to get shot of them. That’s generally the case.

“We’ve got to capture their hearts and minds a little bit that they want to be here. Good performances today and we need some more of them.”

Regarding Huws taking a pay cut to join the Blues, McCarthy added: “When I spoke to his agent, who I’ve known a long time, he’d said to him ‘It’s not about the money, I want to go and play’. And I think he was very good today.”

Centre-half Taylor made one remarkable header past his own post as he defended a cross in from the left, which impressed his boss.

“I think if I was on the Reading bench I’d have said ‘Lucky f***er!’,” McCarthy laughed. “But bearing in mind I was on our bench I went ‘What a great header’. It was fantastic!

“It was great defending but that’s one of them, how he contrived to get it past the far post and not in the side-netting is unbelievable. But I think we deserved that, but he stuck himself in there.

“I thought he played well, Steven. He made a big difference. I love Diggers because of his enthusiasm and he wants to play but we’re talking about a lad who has played in the Premier League for a long time, 10 years probably, and been in England squads.

“We’re comparing apples and pears there, one youthful wanting to do well and the other probably hasn’t got the legs that Diggers have got, but in that position you use your head, you use your mouth, you use your experience and you organise things. He’s a good defender.”

Having said Portman Road has recently been an unpleasant place to be, McCarthy had praise for fans, who he felt played their part from start to finish.

“I’ve said all along, it’s only us that can make it a pleasant place with our performances,” he said. “I’ll take losing if we play like that, I can tolerate losing. I don’t want to, of course.

“But if we play as well as that and get beat, you’d think there are some positives and you can move forward with performances like that [rather than] the other night getting so comfortably beaten.

“The fans were great, they reacted and responded to a good performance and it was lovely. But I thought they were good from the very start, form me walking up the track, it was nice. Nice support from them.”

McCarthy now wants his side to kick on and put in a consistent run of form: “If the rest of the season is anything to go by we’ll be hopeless at Villa and we’ll get beat!

“Let’s hope that’s not the case. I don’t think so, I think the competition for places is far better and maybe a little bit of insecurity makes you work hard, people can’t rest on their laurels.

“I’m not saying they were, but we had 12 or 13 players at one stage and a lot of kids on the bench. It looks a lot stronger now.”

McCarthy said Cole Skuse suffered an achilles injury and he’ll know more about the seriousness of the problem tomorrow.

Royals manager Jaap Stam said: “It was entertaining, but you’re not always very confident on the touchline in these types of games.

“It was going to be a tough game with how they play. We knew how they play at home, the effort that they put in, especially in the second half.

“They know how we want to play, playing possession and they don’t want to let us play, so there’s a lot of physicality in their team, a lot of battles in the midfield and up front for us as well with their defence, and that made it very difficult for us to play.

“They did well, they worked very hard for it but the only thing is for me if you look at the game and how we played and how we conceded goals, that’s my main frustration because they scored twice by us losing the ball twice.

“Once when we were on the attack around the box we lost it, the pass wasn’t good enough and on the break, they’re out. Of course, they did it very well, they scored a great goal, but it was our own mistake that cost.

“The second goal that we conceded, again on the right side. We were still wanting that ball, wanting to play the ball into the striker under pressure, we were still standing open at the back giving space away. They win it, one pass straight through the middle, they’re gone, scoring the second goal.

“That makes it hard because every time you need to come back into the game, you need to equalise twice, which is not easy against a side like this, but we did it, so it’s good, it’s an important point for us.

“That was basically it, we didn’t deserve more today from how we played, I think a draw was a good result for both teams.”

Photo: TWTD

cromwellblue added 18:53 - Feb 4 Yes, we probably did. Although most on here were not expecting that. Nevertheless a genuinely good performance. Let's keep that up
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carsey added 18:56 - Feb 4 As bad as we were on Tuesday we were so much better today. I kind of hope Scuse is not fit enough for Villa because him going off changed everything for me. No more slow side ways passing but players looking to go forwards. Tom Lawrence is an outstanding player and we would be in serious trouble without him and his goals. We need others to start shooting more often rather than rely on him so much. I still have a major concern over Berra who seems to have reached the end of his shelf life at this level whereas Chambers looked like a new man today. In the end I was very disappointed not to win and thought we did a good job against one of the better teams in the league. I just hope McCarthy plays the team next week minus Scuse and attacks them from the off.

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sgtlargent added 19:01 - Feb 4 Taking Tuesday into consideration not sure where he managed to get that performance from, so have to give credit for that. Flip side, Didz was flagging long before their second went in and we were crying out for fresh legs. Bizarre subs imo and again didn't scream "going for it" to me which I can sort of understand but Reading where woeful today and we were well in the game with a very good chance of taking 3 points.

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jas0999 added 19:05 - Feb 4 By no means should Mick McCarthy still be the manager of ITFC, but I completely agree with him in this interview. Credit for the performance today. However, much still to do to ensure safety.
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sgtlargent added 19:12 - Feb 4 @Carsey, As i was walking home it only dawned on me that he even went off. Couldn't agree more, for too long I think we've been brainwashed into believing he MUST be on the field. Without him we just got the ball forward quicker.
7

Mark added 19:15 - Feb 4 For once I agree with everything McCarthy said, and I am glad he didn't have another pop at the fans who I thought were excellent today in the circumstances. The new players were all impressive, with Taylor doing so much talking and organising at the back, and the midfielders showing us what it is like to have some decent players in the middle - tall and strong, but also forward thinking with some decent passes. I hope they continue to do well so we can sign all three in the summer, releasing the likes of Bru and Douglas. It's just a pity that every other match in the Championship went the opposite way to what we wanted and we find ourselves closer to the drop zone than this morning, but if we keep playing like that we should have enough to escape relegation.

14

BlueMachines added 19:17 - Feb 4 MM mentions walking up the track. Lol. He walked as far onto the pitch and as far away from the fans as he could possibly have got. If the family enclosure strike the fear into him so much that he needs to do that, he is lucky he doesn't have to walk past the NorthStand!!
-4

Mick_Mills_Tache added 19:21 - Feb 4 For once, a post match interview that I can't really scrutinise too harshly. The only thing I can bemoan is the comment on players resting on their laurels...as they were and he was a main culprit for it....I.E. not dropping out of form players (Douglas, Skuse, Berra, Chambers, Knudsen etc). Let's hope he's finally seen the light in regards to Skuse/Douglas and that we don't need to play with a defensive deadweight (politest way I could put it?). If Skuse/Douglas start next week against Villa, then it's confirmation he's lost the plot. "McCarthy now wants his side to kick on and put in a consistent run of form: “If the rest of the season is anything to go by we'll be hopeless at Villa and we'll get beat!" - glad Mick said it, saved me having too! Ha! Let's not get carried away but, let's hope it's not just a flash in the pan.

4

frantblue added 19:26 - Feb 4 As has been said chambers has really started to show the class we need from him back in the middle again. We have kept a clean sheet over 90 mins of football ball over the last 2 games We just need to get consistent I'd take 4 more draws this month if they all have improved performance Well done the crowd was good to hear it today just what the players need
4

runaround added 19:29 - Feb 4 Sounds like the new players really made the difference today. Therefore it's imperative that likes of Taylor, Diagouraga, Huws & Emmanuel stay in starting line up when fit, The older players haven't been producing & however much they are Micks favourites they mustn't get back in. Time to move forward, today was a step in the right direction but there has been too many false dawns this season

4

KiwiBlue2 added 19:30 - Feb 4 What a difference having a combative and forward looking midfield makes. I hope MM gives Toumani and Huws a run of games and perseveres with this line up for some time. Lawrence and McG could establish the most dangerous front pairing we have had for a while. Time will tell.....
5

norfolkbluey added 19:31 - Feb 4 Well done Town. Great improvement today. SO MUCH BETTER THAN AGAINST DERBY. Lets build on this. Keep the same team lets not get defensive. Attack is the best form of defence! Fear breeds fear. Our loan players will want to stay if we believe we can win on a regular basis.
10

yerfdog87 added 19:39 - Feb 4 It's sign him up moron! Not sign on
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blue75 added 19:41 - Feb 4 Yes Mick we did well today shame we didn't win, shame you couldn't mention how good the fans were today.
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Swn98 added 19:42 - Feb 4 Sgtlargent do you think they were woeful because we stopped them playing?. Today's performance was so much better than most if not all the games this season we moved the ball quicker played further up the field and played entertaining football well done to every one from the coaches the players and the fans.
9

bluelady added 19:54 - Feb 4 Blue75 - but he did?????
15

bluelady added 20:00 - Feb 4 Don't agree with posts saying strange subs, they two midfielders were dead on their legs and with Skuse going off first hard he had no choice... Ditdz is march for the other two are far from! After Milne totally trashed McCarthy today I am glad that the team played well for him... if we could develop and grow with this new squad then that'd great news. I don't want the manager sacked for the sake of it, equally this season has had me on the Mcarhy out band wagon. However if he can get it right there are few better than him at shopp It in the football pound shop!

10

cat added 20:00 - Feb 4 First and foremost let's enjoy the fact we managed to take a point at home. I'm not buying into anything MM says anymore and it will take a lot more than a semi positive performance at home to change my mind. The old saying "be carefully who you pish off on your way up as you might meet them on the way down" springs very much to mind here. For too long he has been sticking up the perverbial 2 fingers at the fans and I for one ain't that forgiven, nor am I that thickle. DINO OUT

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Swn98 added 20:11 - Feb 4 Semi positive? strange description of what I saw.
6

grumpyoldman added 20:17 - Feb 4 A good result, but I would caution about reading too much into one result and one display. Give it a chance to become a series of results and displays before saying MM has changed for the better
2

Bluetone added 20:20 - Feb 4 During this week Swn98 stopped being McCarthy's love child and straightway the team play much better with some passion, some panache and some commitment. Coincidence? I think not I think Swn98's undying devotion was an embarrassment now McCarthy is so relieved and has set up the team to play "proper football".
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JCBLUE added 20:23 - Feb 4 Much better performance Town & far less arrogant comments Mick, keep it up!
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cat added 20:38 - Feb 4 Swn98 - semi positive performance meaning a point
1

LWNR2013 added 20:41 - Feb 4 I enjoyed it this afternoon. Debutants were all good. But what made the difference today was US the fans. To me it was get behind the players (sod everyone else). It was particularly noticeable when we went 1-1, some heads were down but they were lifted by the positive support. Great, but may not work again and looking at the table tonight we are in deeper sh*t than we were this morning. Felt good but nothing's changed...we still have the power to influence performance - if nothing else.

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Bobby_Petta added 20:46 - Feb 4 Agree with carsey, Skuse has been terrible for a while but Mick loves him. Slow and has no forward thinking pass, been a good pro but think he needs to move on in the summer. Micks has final address the central midfield with loans signing, give as more creativity and energy in the midfield. Shame they are loans and not permanent signing. If it wasn't for Lawrence we be in bottom 3. Good to see everyone was more positive today we need to get behind the team. Still think Mick has to go in the summer.

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