Blues boss Mick McCarthy felt his side were hard done by after a controversial penalty saw Brentford to a 1-0 at Griffin Park. McCarthy, whose team lost by the same scoreline in a similar manner at Birmingham last Saturday, was pleased with his side’s performance despite the defeat.

“I was just listening to [Brentford boss] Dean [Smith] and he was saying they’ve deserved one like that, a pretty soft one, so that usually means when the home manager’s saying that that it wasn’t a penalty.” McCarthy said. “Yes, I do [think we were hard done by].

“It was a similar story at Birmingham last week. I can’t do anything about it, can I? We’ve played well today, I think. I was happy enough with the performance. It looked like it was going to be something like that which would win the game.”

Smith had said in his press conference that Town had given his team as tough an afternoon as anyone this season.

“I think that was fairly obvious,” McCarthy added. “They were getting frustrated, our only downside was that we weren’t good enough with the ball. We could have been better, we’ve not made the most of our opportunities to hurt them. And it’s hinged in a poor decision, in my view.

“We keep trying to do the same things. And when we got the chances he [Brentford keeper Daniel Bentley] made a good save and there was a good block right at the end of the game. We’re still trying to do the right things, the lads were great, I’m delighted with them.”

Asked whether his position at the club has made it more difficult for the team, he responded: “I can’t for one moment in time imagine it’s helped but I think you’ve seen the way the players have played for me, they’ve not downed tools or stopped trying.

“They’ve ben terrific today, they have in the last three games. But the atmosphere it’s created is not good for anybody.

“They were great, terrific, always, they’ve been great, everybody, for five and a half years they’ve never lacked that and that’s why the opposing manager is in here saying we’ve made it as difficult for them as any other team.”

After Monday’s very open game against Millwall, today’s match was more typical of most of the Blues’ games this season.

“It’s strange, isn’t it?” McCarthy reflected. “If Cardiff come and do it to you, and they did it to us and nicked a goal, he [Kenneth Zohore] handles it and he toe-pokes it in, nobody’s bothered, it’s Cardiff, it’s brilliant. But because we’ve lost everybody thinks it’s wrong.

“If you think we’re as good as every team, we can just go and play how we want because we can’t, so you have to do what’s needed. And I think we have today but unfortunately a penalty has cost us.”

McCarthy had praise for Luke Hyam, who was booed and abused throughout by the home fans for his role in Alan Judge’s injury at Portman Road two years ago.

“It was an excellent performance, an emotionally good performance, a mature performance for somebody who has had to endure constant abuse throughout the game,” McCarthy continued. “I’ve just welcomed him to my world.”

Asked about the chants aimed at him by sections of the Blues support as he left the field at the end of each half, he added: “I can’t for one minute either say it’s deserved, warranted or makes me feel warm and cuddly inside. But hey ho, that’s the way it is, you know. They’ve only got five more to do it.”

Bees boss Smith admitted Town had given his team a difficult afternoon.

“That was as tough a win as we’ve had this season," he said. "They made it very tough for us. They went man for man, made it very difficult to get our passing game going and you’ve got to give them a lot of credit for that because they worked extremely hard to stop us.

“I feel we’ve had two chance of note in the first half. The one from Neil Maupay which Bartosz Bialkowski’s saved with his foot and one for Romaine Sawyers over the top but chances were few and far between.

“I was probably getting a little bit frustrated on the sidelines, which is unlike me, but we just couldn’t get our passing game together today and it became a difficult game for us.”

Regarding the penalty, he added: “I saw a hand on the back of him and Sergi’s gone down. It’s soft, I’d probably be annoyed if I was Mick, but we’ve had enough which haven’t been given for us when they should. So, no excuses, I’ll certainly take it.”

Reflecting on the game further, he said: “I knew it was going to be tough, there’s no such thing as a Mick McCarthy team that lies down as a mid-table-nothing-to-play-for team.

“He’s going at the season, so it’s a credit to him and the players that they keep working as hard as they do as they did today.

“A very hard-working midfield and they made it very difficult for us. We’ve had plenty of games here where we’re dominated and not won, so it’s nice to not dominate but to get over the line and win a game today.”

Photo: TWTD

muccletonjoe added 09:55 - Apr 8 Itfchorry..... you dont
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black_shuck added 10:18 - Apr 8 Seems Mick would be happy with 46 0-0 games and not bothering with cup
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dirtydingusmagee added 10:25 - Apr 8 Grinch ,I know it was just a typo, but really Evans should open his wallet and give McCarthy the two MOTHS and send him on his way .
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dirtydingusmagee added 10:29 - Apr 8 ha ha I see Gcon has kicked Swn back in line .
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midastouch added 10:30 - Apr 8 I haven't browsed through the comments yet so I'm probably just regurgitating old ground here. My immediate reaction to Mick's suggestion that the game hinged on a dodgy penalty is that he needs to take more responsibility himself for the way the game ended. My argument would be that the penalty was still less consequential in comparison to Mick's odd line up and tactics. The game hinged much more on the line up Mick announced which was a lot weaker than it could of been. Moreover, Brentford are streets ahead of us when it comes to tactical nous as they pick apart all the statistics and their manager Smith would of been rubbing his hands in advance of this match as our statistics when analysed closely leave plenty of opportunities for the opposition to exploit. Brentford is a model that any club on a tight budget should be looking to replicate, we really are missing a trick here I think. Hopefully the new manager will be prepared to use modern data analysis so they know all the modern facts of important matters such as when it's the best time to bring on substitutes (these facts have already been established with thorough scientific data analysis which have calculated the optimum times for example to bring on 2nd half substitutes to retrieve or win a match). Brentford are light years ahead in all such respects and we really need to start catching up.

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Arnie added 10:53 - Apr 8 I heard the Needham Market manager speaking on the radio, he said as there were only 5 games to play, they had nothing to lose, so would play the younger players to give them game time!
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madmouse1959 added 10:57 - Apr 8 ALL the supporters who wasted a day supporting the team at Brentford should be sent a refund !!!!
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MicksZzzTactics added 11:21 - Apr 8 WARNING! SUPER SILLY *SARCASM* AHEAD! ---- ALAS DO NOT READ IF YOU ARE TRAGICALLY BEREFT OF HUMOR! Wow! Take an extra look at this TWTD article's awesome mugshot of 'Mick the Nick'... and is it JUST me? or can the rest of you too hmmm 'almost as 'Clear as Day' spot & tell that the dreaded Dino's nose is not merely seriously crooked! LOL but in part said prehistoric nose's distinctive & classical looking "crookedness" is one which STRONGLY suggest, to me personally (a longtime former martial artist) anyway, that it has been broken with some quite intense force! And oh btw not really appearing to have been fixed/corrected probably afterwards either! :-) :-) So ehhh simply for the noble purpose of trying to *LIGHTEN UP* the very negative & divisive atmosphere here on this site, let's play a little super shrewd 'WHO DUNNIT' shall we... (With the regard to the fabulous REWARD, I just now heard it through the proverbial grapevine that courtesy of of a deal struck personally by none other that our beluved snake oil selling ME mouthpiece the all-knowing (or zilch-knowing depending on your sympathy/apathy with the poor man!) 'Immaculate Ian', well the the quickest to answer in a convincing manner get's a free 1st row entrance to Fiona McCarthy's next hosting of the local *YORKSHIRE* Pudding Regional Championship! Uhuu! :-D :-D) To be continued...

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Cheshire_Blue added 11:24 - Apr 8 I can't wait for the promised land next season. Reality is that without a manager of the quality and experience of Mick McCarthy that could well be league 1 Time will tell..
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MicksZzzTactics added 11:37 - Apr 8 Alrighteeee, so in true Sherlockian style the earlier proclaimed 'WHO DUNNIT' (emphatically broke Mick's crooked looking nose lol) "Game Is Afoot": A) Was it the inherently rowdy & longtime 'Anti-Mick'er' Roy Keane.... say during the 'Saipan Incident' in 2002 (You know the infamous: "Your a f**king w****r. I didn't rate you as a player, I don't rate you as a manager, and I don't rate you as a person. You're a f**king w****r and you can stick your World Cup up your arse. I've got no respect for you!" incident)??? B) Was it the allegedly carelessly outspoken & critical of Mick's negative football philosophies other Irish macho man Leon "He is not gonna play another minute more under me!"Best??? C) Was it Maitland-Niles's famously ANGRY -- and now even more famously homeless too! -- mum??? D) Was it Drinan's ANGRY mum??? (Well I imagine that conceivably she too could be somewhat of an "angry" mother at this stage LOL, say... from having her sweet sweet teenager son "torn away" from the luuuuvely pastures of Waterford with 'Promises of Eden' & being 'The Next Murph' at ITFC... only to see him wind up haven't got as much as 10 seconds of 1st team action yet!!! And this despite 1) This being yet another one on the big pile of mere 'Also Ran ITFC seasons in the 2nd tier which for months now, in any practically sense that is, has been pretty pointless & thus with little to lose, including thus very aptly an extra opportune time to implement the YOUTH policy part in 'Clueless Marcus's fabulous hollow sounding "5-Point-Plan"!!!, and 2) oh having scored several very impressive individualistic goals for the development side! E) Was it that arse-kissing sissy of an interviewing reporter Brenner Wolley's ANGRY girlfriend??? (Aye here is yet another potential 'woman scorned' ....I mean from a healthy & mature relationship pov she might very likely be as fed up as many of us more objective and skeptical fans about her boyfriend's toe-cringing & absurd utter SUBMISSIVENESS towards The Dino & The Regime! LOL) F) Was it 'The Ghosts' of Sir Alf Ramsey & Sir Bobby Robson , who in sheer Bollywood action style teamed-up in a uncharacteristic fit of vengefulness :-) :-) to pay The Dino a fright night visit, to say... sort of tell him straight up what they thought of this absolute MOCKERY the ultra selfish & ultra arrogant scared sheeiit-less of losing 'Mick The Nick' has made of both this once proud and revered Ipswich brand of football, and to the undeniable damage/tarnish he also has made to the club's nowadays more contemporary global overall image & legacy too??? So there you have it! 6 supercilious & super probable culprits for having a hmmm "part" in The Dino's seriously crooked looking nosejob! Thus just place your bets Ladies & Gents.... that aforementioned fabulous once-in-a-lifetime REWARD eagerly awaits you! :-D :-D

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the_beat added 12:08 - Apr 8 I was not at Brentford but the whole club seems now to be in a ridiculous situation. Rightly or wrongly, MM is going and the players know that so how can they possibility gain the required motivation from him. Surely the sensible approach would have been to release him and TC, put Klug in charge and allow him to use the last few games to give some some matchtime to a few of the youngsters who he knows as well as anybody. The current situation is not beneficial to anybody.

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Spanishblueblood added 12:08 - Apr 8 Cheshire blue, think you are better off watching rugby because you clearly know Jack about football.
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ivegottheblues added 12:30 - Apr 8 The Mccarthy years have been a complete waste of time. I do not accept that 'he saved us when he first came ' . Even relegation would not have been the disaster we have suffered during his time. In fact it would have been a great opportunity to rebuild and bring on a young team under a fresh manager and I'm sure we would have been in a much better position than we are now with our reputation still intact

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ITFCsince73 added 14:40 - Apr 8 Cheshire blue....please explain the qualities you see? Experience...Experiance of what. Doing what?
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Pilgrimblue added 15:00 - Apr 8 No it didn't you idiot, it hinged on very bad selection and tactics by yourself. Why wasn't Carayol given 20 mins and why was Celina not brought on at start of second half and why oh why was Sears selected above Folami?
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cat added 15:31 - Apr 8 Where's all the negativity coming from???, we are nearing the end of what's undoubtably been the worse 3 years of entertainment starved football that I can remember in my 40 something years of following ITFC, but there's plenty to look forward to. On to yesterday game, did anyone really expect the stubborn McCarthy to mix it up and try something different, not me that's for sure. It's rather laughable how MM's cursing our bad luck, in my book it usually evens itself out or you make your own, personally think “Madame fortune' retired after the first quater of the season due to nothing other than being overworked & exhausted. Maybe my positivity coming from the fact I'm currently on the 46th floor of the Emirates Towers, (Lol) fresh from a day of basking in 38 degrees of sunshine, mind you it ain't all been plain sailing, the coffee machine broke this morning and it took housekeeping a whooping 4.5 mins to get to the room and rectify the problem. Anyway must dash, got to register for my 10% discount in our funky new ecommerce shop, followed by some more fine dining. Be seeing you Sir, “simply lovleh”. 👌

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black_shuck added 16:23 - Apr 8 What's to stop ME and MM selling points for cash?
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therein61 added 18:09 - Apr 8 Oh what a joy it is to be a Town fan at this time in my life after 60 years come the 14th of this month, even Miss Whiplash could not hurt me as much!!!!!
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therein61 added 18:20 - Apr 8 Re the above comment I've just had a vision of Mick in a basque and stockings being passed whips and chains by his loyal happy clappers to the chants of beat him to within an inch of his life great leader he likes to see entertaining football and positive(no proper bloke) tactics and win games!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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MicksZzzTactics added 18:52 - Apr 8 @cat Naaah from a personal standpoint I really didn't expect the departing Dino to "try something different"... and/or "youthful"!... (but C'mon! Can't really argue the view here that it's basically still very inherently "biaaatch-worthy" whenever he doesn't lol!)... mostly because & as other deductive reasoning posters have duly noted: HEY! it might actually work! And maybe even produce some goals! Including other than the by & large fortuitous or "Nick It from set-pieces" types of ones!. And oh simply quite likely entertain us starved fans in the process too! All something Mick, his bigger-than-life Ego & accompanying 'Delusion of Grandeur" OBVIOUSLY couldn't live with. Especially at both this pointless juncture of his self-perceived glorious ITFC tenure and also in view of his imho more than likely impending unemployment status. I.E. fundamentally being proved wrong!!!!!!!!!! In the sense that what many have been screaming or begging for for what feels like eons, MIGHT actually just be a lot better & crowd pleasing than Mick's 1-dimensional and default-like type of ultra negative hedgehog football! But alas the very crux of the problem is and always has been that this belligerent 'Has Been' & Museum of Paleontology READY piece of a dino manager should of course have been put on an immediately effective "Gardening Leave" by Evans on Maundy Thursday! Period! (And thus not been allowed to, among several blatantly obvious counter-productive things to the club' immediate future, continue in any official capacity to rather joyfully be able to bark and even pee up them fed-up fans/"numbskulls" tree, with his lame or spiteful dispositions, and at his own twisted leisure!

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MicksZzzTactics added 18:52 - Apr 8 Ohh and btw @cat sincerely hope enjoy fabulous Dubai ...and it's mild-tempered 38 degrees!!! And ehmmm speaking of Dubai and on a more personal note could you please be a 'Good Chappie' lol and do me a very SMALLISH favor, that is if you *just happen to* have the time and more importantly also the ehmmm "Petty Cash"...., could you then possibly make the down-payment on one of these intriguingly looking "FLOATING SEA HORSE PROPERTIES" (bottom picture in the ensuing article) for me & the wifie??? https://www.thesun.co.uk/travel/5596579/dubais-fake-world-islands-are-being-buil I imagine one will get a serious serious deep & long lasting tan in no time! living in one of these floating 'thingies'... scorchingly hot sunrays from not only above but reflecting of the extremely close-by water too and all... But indoors oh man! It will probably resembling 'hanging out' in a freakin' Greenhouse on Mercury lol... But hey! I've just recently been told in no uncertain terms that for a rare change I could actually do with losing a few pounds soon... so all in all a nifty WIN-WIN situation & deal I think! :-) lol :-)

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1RWR added 21:41 - Apr 8 Spanishblueblood,Cheshireblue said "that could well be league 1" It could also have said "that could well be the Premiership". Why are people so negative, the bad times have gone [nearly] the good times are just around the corner. Think positive Mr Cheshireblue, think positive.
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1RWR added 23:33 - Apr 8 I get a 'down vote' for trying to be positive......I give up!
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shakytown added 02:42 - Apr 9 Delusional to the very last. We are so negative in our outlook that as soon as we get behind or have a bad decision go against us we cannot recover. Good teams have a positive outlook and can score goals to get back into games, This comes from the manager only and you are a over the hill outdated carthorse nothing more nothing less. Please just go waay and let the lads at least try to play football not the garbage you prefer. JUST SOD OFF NOW YOU IDIOT.

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