Ipswich v Wolves: ‘Big deal’. That was the ever-pragmatic response from Mick McCarthy after Ipswich Town enjoyed a near perfect night at Portman Road.

That was the ever-pragmatic response from Mick McCarthy after Ipswich Town enjoyed a near perfect night at Portman Road.

Red-hot striker Daryl Murphy scored two fine goals in an impressive 2-1 win over Wolves. It meant McCarthy celebrated his 100th game in charge of the Blues with a win against his former club, the Suffolk side leapfrogging bitter rivals Norwich – who lost 4-0 at Middlesbrough – to move up to fifth in the Championship table.

“Big deal,” said McCarthy. Does that mean he’s keeping everything in perspective then? “I’ve just said ‘big deal’. How many have we played? Fourteen is it? I’ve got no idea. (Is told it’s 16). Only 30-odd to go then.”

With Town three points off leaders Bournemouth, ahead of Saturday’s visit of third-place Watford, he continued: “I’ve got no axe to grind with Wolves or any bitterness towards them whatsoever. I loved my time there. I had six successful years there.

“I do prefer it if I’m getting any text messages from Wolverhampton that they say ‘well done’ rather than ‘he, he, he, we beat ya’ though.”

He was equally low key when asked about Murphy’s fine form, the Irishman now the joint-leading scorer in the division with 10 goals, saying: “It’s just as well he got the winner because he got Luke Hyam booked for not tracking a runner. He can’t play on Saturday now so he owes him his appearance money and his bonus if we win it.

“He was fabulous, but I thought I’d put that perspective on it. You still have to do those rubbish jobs. He did 99 times out of 100 to be fair.”

Playing down an excellent display, he said: “I’ll let you guys rate the performances. It was a confident performance and, yeah, I think it was one of the better ones.

“Wolves are a really good team. We’ve watched them, they play some great football, but we didn’t allow them to do that and played some good stuff as well.

“It was a really good, competitive, Championship match that with some quality in it. It was nice that it was a top end clash.”