Town boss Mick McCarthy believed his side deserved something from their 1-0 defeat at Bristol City with his only complaint with his team the manner in which they conceded Milan Djuric’s 64th minute goal.

Asked whether his side ought to have taken something from the match, which was played in heavy snow and a strong wind, he said: “Yes, I do. We certainly shouldn’t have lost it anyway.

“I think we haven’t had as much of the ball as them but we’ve had as many chances as them, probably more actually, truth be known, but it’s the one that goes in the net that counts.”

He added: “I think my teams are generally well organised and well disciplined, as they were today, but it wasn’t just that, I thought we created chances as well.”

For the decisive goal, Town gave Lloyd Kelly too much time to put in his cross, before Adam Webster was beaten by Djuric and McCarthy felt it should have been defended better.

“Yes, they didn’t get too many crosses in the box,” he reflected. “They got overloaded that side and then I think Adam’s tried to stop him, he should have gone and attacked it and he’s beaten him to it.”

Asked whether he believed Webster might have been fouled, he added: “I thought it was a good goal on their part. I’ve no complaints about it at all.”

At the other end, Town have now gone three games without a goal, although McCarthy felt his team had opportunities: “We’ve created chances there, we’re just not scoring them at the minute.

“There’s not much we can do about that other than keeping going and keeping trying to put it in the net.”

He added: “I’m not bemoaning my luck, somebody’s got to be running and moving in the box and getting on the end of it. We work on that, TC works on that constantly with them, so it’s not just down to luck. Maybe somebody taking a chance.

“Certainly, the last couple [of opportunities], Callum’s header across the box, Jonas struck one across the box, you’ve got to have somebody moving and getting on top of it.”

Is there currently a lack of confidence in front of goal? “Did it look like it? Did anybody fluff their lines in front of goal? Did anybody miss a really good chance? Did anybody look like they panicked. No? Well, there’s your answer.”

Might players not getting in the right positions inside the box be down to a lack of confidence? “I don’t think so, I think we’ve had a really confident display there today but not managed to score and I think we’ve let one in.

“They’ve put the big fella on that cost £1.25 million or something, so he’s got a bit of a pedigree and he’s managed to find the net. That was the difference.”

McCarthy switched back to his three-man backline with Cole Skuse sitting in front of them and Callum Connolly and Grant Ward ahead of the former Bristol City man, which he thought worked well.

“We played Skusey as the central one and played Callum and Wardy as two midfield players just up against them and I thought Wardy played well, to be honest,” he continued.

“I think you could see when they scored how much it meant because I don’t think they thought they were going to score. It didn’t look like they were going to.

“We’ve been well-organised and disciplined and done that side of it well, but I thought we did well as well, I thought we created chances in the game.”

Regarding the less than ideal weather, he added: “Conditions are unusual probably for March, but that’s playing football in England, isn’t it? That’s the way it comes and you never know when the weather’s going to be like that.

“I thought both teams handled it well. My only complaints are that we’ve conceded the goal the way we did. Other than that I think we’ve played well.”

On Thursday, Town revealed striker Joe Garner would miss the rest of the season having suffered a small fracture to his skull in the Sheffield United match.

The 29-year-old had been due to be in the squad on Tuesday, his wife having given birth to their baby earlier in the day, but was eventually left out on medical advice.

“He’s probably got a headache,” McCarthy joked when asked about the former Rangers and Preston man’s condition.

“No, he hasn’t. He’s got a tiny fracture but he had blood in his ear and in his mouth on Tuesday night when he was down to [be on the bench]. Typical Joe, very selfless and willing.

“It was the doctor who pulled him out and on having an x-ray, he’s got a crack [to his skull]. That’s six weeks and in the meantime he’s going to have his shoulder operated on Monday.

“And when that’s better and he can go on crutches, if his knee needs operating on he might have that done as well, so that’s the type of player I’ve got, it’s great.”

Bristol City boss Lee Johnson felt the result was more important than this team’s performance, which he thought improved after the break.

“We played really well tactically in the first half but didn’t have enough intent to make the box and to get in behind, a lot of people were in pockets, good touches, very difficult for Ipswich to play against,” he said.

“But at the same time, dare I say it, on the verge of being boring. The difference between that and the Sheffield Wednesday game [which they won 4-0], every time we stuck five or six passes together, the next one cut the line, the next one either scored a goal or created a chance.

“And it’s a Catch-22 because you want to play football in a certain way. Our distances were too stretched, which dropped the tempo and in the second half we just wanted those to get a bit tighter, play off Milan a little bit more and we did alright.

“It’s a tough game, we needed to win, it was a really big game and sometimes the result is more important than the performance.”

Regarding Djuric’s goal, he added: “It was a great goal, he should have scored before that when the little rebound came off the keeper, but that was a proper, old-fashioned almost like a Duncan Ferguson type goal and the crowd like them. We’ll watch that back a few times, I’m sure.”

Turning to Town and Blues manager McCarthy, he continued: “We had to make sure we were resolute in the circumstances in a very difficult game against a side, by the way, who do very, very well for their resources and what they’ve got.

“I don’t really understand the moans and groans because they’ve got a top manager there.”

Photo: PagePix

bluearmy4life added 08:57 - Mar 18 I am beginning to become convinced that Mick is trying to big us up in terms of performance almost every week? Is this his way of getting or trying to get a two year extension? “We played well today and deserved something from the game” two poor shots on target is hardly settling the world a light?
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warktheline added 09:40 - Mar 18 @suffolkboy, had you just found that unexpected £20 note in a side pocket of a coat , or such like, when you sprung upon us 'downtrodden groundhog day' supporters your 'hope springs external' post! Just a couple of issues may I draw your 'optimism' towards, McCarthy has and continues to use 'footballers' rather 'sparingly', and has 'disgracefully' ( Yes McCarthy the word sways both ways ) thrown such players into 'difficult situations' when he's been 'backed into a corner' through a number of different scenarios! Also, and God damn, 'disgracefully' our 'leader' has hoped by playing 'certain non proper blokes types' that a 'backfiring' may occur just to 'prove his unquestionable superior football knowledge, second only to Sir Alex' over 'his wage paying public'! Some of these players you are so 'happy' to mention are players ( cast offs ) from clubs that for a 'host of reasons' have 'rightly' decided to release .....please note 'injuries'.....something 'ironically' you use as an 'excuse' for a 'lack of excitement' commonly occurring at Portman Rd these last 6 years! 'What a gay day' as all Town fans can now confirm 'Championship stability' have evolved but since 'stagnated' under 'honest Mick'....yes that honest 'he swears' he never told travelling fans to 'f*** off' at probably the 'worst place on earth' he could have spilled his 'honesty'!

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martin587 added 09:54 - Mar 18 I was at the match yesterday,and I have been to every away game this season so I think I am justified in giving my honest opinion on our team set up and tactics. Apart from the first five away games where we attacked with venom and scored for fun we have gone backwards. MM has set out his teams to not loose,defend in numbers and rely on a quick break.In some games this has worked very well and we were rewarded with some good results. To be honest we have been unlucky with midfield injuries and of course this has not helped.What really gets up my goat is the way teams are set out for home games.There is nothing positive.We still defend when we have home advantage and this is wrong and extremely bad management. It is now becoming very very boring and I can understand why we the PAYING supporters are becoming very dissolutioned. In all of MM's seasons at the club we have been in the top six once,and from then have just become a mid table team with little interest in nothing apart from staying in the league.Even our efforts to win a cup match are disgraceful. The uncertainty at the club is now appalling and should be addressed by the absent owner NOW. I honestly hope during this two week break the owner will come forward and make a clear statement as to the future of OUR club. Enough of my rant,have a good Sunday folks,and keep warm.I'm still thawing out from yesterday.

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grumpyoldman added 10:11 - Mar 18 Swn98 there never will be peace as we all have our own opinions whoever is manager, whichever players are chosen, whatever the tactics used, people will never agree all the time. For instance some think Jim was a good manager, I personally thought he was out of his league and should never have been given the job. You and others may disagree. I do not like it when people start attacking somebody's bad grammar or spelling even if said in jest it is not acceptable.

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Dissboyitfc added 10:17 - Mar 18 At the other end, the Blues, who are now without a goal in their last three matches, failed to carve out a real chance other than Connolly's header across the face. that says it all, just go!
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baxter7 added 10:27 - Mar 18 Mcarthy if we lost 6-0 you will still say the same you a total moron just go and do one and take your proper blokes with you
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Cheshire_Blue added 11:02 - Mar 18 Other Managers praise MM because they have more football knowledge and sense than 90% of posters on here!
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warktheline added 11:20 - Mar 18 @cheshirecat, it's called 'the old boys club'!......it's not what you know it's who you know!.....such naivety, keep 'smiling and clapping' Cheshire!
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Swn98 added 11:37 - Mar 18 grumpy by name grumpy by post!!!!
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Swn98 added 11:41 - Mar 18 Suffolkboy good post alas wasted on the majority of the doom mongers on the news site.
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pauldart added 11:50 - Mar 18 I was at the game yesterday and watched from the top of the massive stand. The team is set up well to defend , they are difficult to get through, as sit with a line of 5-3-1-1. unless opposing team attack with width, can't see this team letting too many in. what it cried out for was a midfielder who could burst into the box - Huws, Ademeyi, Kiwomya- all long term injuries. with any of these and perhaps Garner or didz would a have made massive difference. I get some of the negativity but these long term injuries are a factor. Look at the positives , we have championship football next year and can build from this.

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grumpyoldman added 12:10 - Mar 18 Swn98 grumpy by name, realist by nature. I can accept other people's opinion, I will argue with them. See even when I disagree I can't be bothered to mark you down, try it once it may become a habit.
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dugoutdave added 14:23 - Mar 18 Got what he deserved.. nowt. I wanted Paul Cook last year. Seeing how Wigan are playing in 1st half against Southampton today..oh how I wish it had happened.
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MicksZzzTactics added 14:32 - Mar 18 Just seen the official highlights ...and ehhhh NOOOOO! 'Mick The Nick' those very scruffy looking small handful of barely mentionable "half" or "quarter" rather chances :-) :-), including a couple of puny headed-across-the-face-of the-goal ones, does not in any way genuinely constitutes us quote "Deserving something from this game!" (Alas imho the NEUTRAL mainstream media & their significantly less rosy reviews got it just right ....again!) Absolutely nothing personally against for instance the likes of @suffolkboy here voicing his entitled hardcore'ish opinion .... it' is a chat-board and diversity should be welcomed! ..... but hmmmm then again both how skillful and not the least factual (or inferred: lack here of!) any given poster really are with his/her argumentation is on occasions an entirely different kind of "story"! :-) :-) Cause while it's currently kind of striking how many various ITFC fans are spouting "I'm sooo dead-tired of this, soooo dead-tired of that" these days! .....it's still "business as usual" that among these many posters you STILL find them extremely repetitive certain ones among the Pro-MM fraction and their hypocritical "I'm sooo tired of people whining & moaning" ....???!!! ....LOL! ...apparently forever oblivious to the little fact that constantly biaaaacthing about OTHER people "moaning", regardless of whether said OTHER people are doing it rightly or wrongly -- but imho it's predominantly rightly as there nowadays is plenty plenty to JUSTIFIABLY "moan" about with close to anything connected to this moribund-looking club! -- is in and of itself clearly "moaning" too! Period! :-) :-)

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MicksZzzTactics added 15:41 - Mar 18 So speaking of being "tired of" here is what I personally have grown tired of lately: And that is this largely feebled attempt by SOME fans & local reporters even of either excusing Mick & the entire failed season or even more boldly completely trying to exonerate Mick from his *trademarklike* (as in = way too often!!!): Beyond boring & negative hedgehog tactics, 'favorizing' and thus barely creative starting selection & mind-boggling late or unsound substitutions .....by using our many and/or recurring injured players, as the key argument for MM repeatedly opting or reverting (cause we all remember the *entertaining* looking start to 2017/18 nevermind the fact we still did "nick" a lot of them 3-pointers then) to do these sordid tactical things?! 1) EVERY team has injuries!!! Sometimes to their most pivotal players, sometimes not!!! But as in other walks of life ....occasionally "when it rains it pours" , and yes clearly it has been pouring on ITFC in that regard, in particularly this campaign but also to some degree in previous ones in fact. HOWEVER please remove them bluetinted glasses Ladies & Gents and thus REALIZE that there are several factors abound -- see 2) and 3) below -- with MM and his team that imho can go a long in explaining at least part of this "pouring"! 2) Mick has always signed MANY "Injury Prone" labeled players in his time here! Alas... don't be at too surprised or even call it "SPECIAL BAD LUCK" when in the current squad the likes of: Didz, Adeyemi, Mustapha, Huws goes down, or like our own academy product Bish, simply can't stay out of the infirmary for very long ....as SADLY there clearly was obvious good reason & good hindsight in the fact that the vast majority of our league competitors didn't wholeheartedly try to sign/re-sign them or in some reported instances even touch some of them currently in our our squad (as well as and other "Sickos", "Rejects" & "Cast-offs" Mick eventually winded up signing over his years at ITFC) with the proverbial "10 foot pole"!!! And then of course there is the unfortunate case of Mr. Garner ... and his for long carried bad shoulder & other "knocks" (not talking about his recent skull-fracture though!). Kudos to him for always working hard on & off the field too to get ready, and to him for having proved he can indeed get into double figures in goals at this level, HOWEVER he is also without a doubt quite some "Tumbler" isn't he .....spending a LOT of time going to the ground, sometimes undeliberately, sometimes not though! In any event advocating such a bumpy playing style as his, "knocks" and even serious ones will simply tend to come a lot easier. In other words him not being remotely a 100% or directly unavailable from time to time does not constitutes "BAD LUCK" either in my view. 3) For a variety of glaring reasons I'm one of those fans here that for very long time have suspected there simply must be all kinds of things INHERENTLY & SERIOUSLY wrong with our entire training as a whole ...and specifically the exactly like Mick also extremely archaic & 1-dimensional: Terry "He Makes A Good Cuppa" Connor led practice programs & exercises! Aside from the often touched upon here on TWTD and elsewhere -- and therefore no need to recap it -- things appearing to be wrong with it from a pure creative & offensive pov, you also to some degree have some from a purely defensive one (Briefly: Considering how many folks MM just luves to defend with we still often get in trouble by making the same defensive-minded mistakes over and over again!, and this include Mick of course almost practically FORBIDDING anyone among this *abundance* of defensive players to guarding, or even practice guarding, them crucial goalpost in certain situations, cause quote "That's how I've always gone by it!") .....well additionally there now also appears to be mounting 'circumstantial evidence' of something MAYHAPS being quite wrong with the training from a prolonged health perspective too if you ask me .... or rather better ask some former players on The Dino's ITFC now enjoying an incredible new found fitness elsewhere! :-) :-) Purely coincidental??? Perhaps.... but for now, and although as I stated above "injury prone" players" per definition being fairly susceptible to injuries , there still lingers the notion that MM & TC simply have a sort of *uncanny* & hard to explain history here of a variety of players, having just returned from injury only to IMMEDIATELY get re-injured again???!!! that after 6 years I personally chose to find all that a little more than just "Slightly Worrying & Noteworthy".

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Seasider added 16:57 - Mar 18 Unless your names Minesapint you are posting under a pseudonym like all of us. I have had the guts to ask McCarthy questions which could be taken as critical.On one occasion he didn't answer and was his usual snappy self;but on the other he did after a fashion.This was when he had the guts to turn up at The Supporters and Club AGM's,unlike this year. Like you I have been supporting Town for a long while,3 Managers before Sir Bobby.You are not comparing like with like. Mr Robson was a young rookie manager in his first full role,whereas McCarthy is very experienced as he would tell you (many times). BR managed all the time in the top division,whilst MM struggled to stay above the Championship on two separate occasions. He also brought in young players right away,if I recall correctly.For instance Ron Wigg scored in a 2-1 win over Man City on 11 March 1969,and Derek(Chopper )Jefferson in the following game a 2-2 draw away at Spurs when Wigg scored again ! Before the year was out Colin Viljoen scored the following season in a 2-1 defeat to Spurs,as did Mick Mills in a defeat at Old Trafford by a similar score.Mick Hill and Micky Lambert were also on the scoresheet that year. I ,like you,recall the game in Bobbys early days at the club,when Georgie Best ran rings round us,and soon after this,think he went out and got big Irish International Allan Hunter from Blackburn Rovers with Bobby Bell,another youth player going the other way in a deal of Approx £85000. After 5 years here he had already won the Texaco Cup beating Norwich,won the Youth Cup.Both in 1972/73 season;in which the club finished 4th in the 1st Division qualifying for the UEFA cup. So please don't attempt to compare Mick McCarthy with Sir Bobby Robson in any way !

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Theipswich added 18:21 - Mar 18 We got what we deserved...nothing
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brittaniaman added 20:03 - Mar 18 I was amazed that Bristol City had got 10 players injured, so we are not the only team with injuries. Football on 5 were saying what a stubborn man Dino is !!!
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Dissboyitfc added 20:06 - Mar 18 Martin587... agree with your great post, apart from how you rated us earlier in the season, we got lucky earlier in the season, Here is my assessment i posted when i got back from the Barnsley Game. Great start to the season 3 straight wins. I was there today and the first half showing was poor! McCarthy chose a 5-3-2 formation to start the game, too many players not comfortable with it. the worst offender was Knudsen, he had a woeful first half and the game could so easily have been over by half time and we were fortunate to still be in the game. So credit to MM for the change in formation and personnel for the second half but dont get too carried away, MM totally got it wrong first half.

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MicksZzzTactics added 20:28 - Mar 18 SPOT ON! @Seasider I too am as fed up as you of these in recent times grotesque attempts of somehow comparing the not quite infallible (cause obviously nobody is!) but largely successful, -- due to as you said among many managerial positives being inherently daring, including in his youth-promoting , plus very smart with his transactions to strengthen the team. -- & the just generally *GREAT* human being Sir Bobby Robson, with the very undignified dinosaur, that despite a few aberrations of pushing his 'Proper Blokes' stuffed team above their weight on minuscule funds, clearly is suffering from severe GDD (Grandiose Delusional Disorder) Mick McCarthy! And while there fundamentally is nothing TRULY amusing about these rather pathetic attempts of comparison between the 2, cause they are obviously not uploaded in jest , I guess one could chose to view them as soooo hilarious that to counter them in some hmmm more "alternative" way, matchingly hilarious I mean :-) :-), well I'm afraid it could simply be time to send in... Cardinal Ximinez of Spain (Michael Palin), 'Junior' Cardinal Biggles (Terry Jones) & 'Junior' Cardinal Fang (Terry Gilliam)... a.k.a. the notorious soft cushion poking brand of THE SPANISH INQUISITION!... cause as they always say "Nobody expects them"! :-) :-)

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warktheline added 21:11 - Mar 18 @micksZzz, glad you summoned up the energy to complement @seasider superb post ( as asways ) , I for one am all totally 'shattered' by the ongoing 'saga/boredom' that is McCarthy/Evans!!!!
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warktheline added 21:11 - Mar 18 * as always.
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norfolkbluey added 20:17 - Mar 19 It has to be a time for a change. The fans pay hard earned money to watch mediocrity year after year. This isn't just been going on for a couple of seasons! Unless there is a full clearout starting at management level NOTHING WILL ALTER. This club is horizontal with little or no hope of movement apart from from mid table our usual spot. Are we going to be above The Narwich at the end of this season? If we go below them that will be the final straw! Come on Marcus... be decisive, the fans deserve it.

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