Leicester v Ipswich: Blues boss Mick McCarthy knows his Ipswich Town side contributed to their own downfall in a 3-0 defeat at table-toppers Leicester City.

Jamie Vardy seized upon a blindly hit Jay Tabb back pass to break the deadlock in the 19th minute, with the Blues again giving the ball away high up the pitch in the build-up to David Nugent’s 31st minute finish.

The Foxes took their foot off the gas after the break before sealing a comfortable victory two minutes from time when substitute Chris Wood raced onto a through ball before coolly finishing.

“We were beaten by a better side, that’s for sure,” said McCarthy. “Unfortunately for me and for us we contributed to it – and they don’t need any help.”

Asked for his view on the soft goals which left his team facing a mountain to climb, the Blues boss said: “You probably know my view on the first one in terms of the final pass. We’d just had our best spell in the game, we’d had the best chance with Skusey at the edge of box and we went backwards instead of keeping it on top of them. We’re negative and they go and score.

“Tabby shouldn’t have been put in that position though – that’s my view. We should have been putting the ball in for another cross and we should have been in the final third. That’s where we made the mistake. So no, I’m not pointing the finger at him. I think he’s great. He’s been fabulous for us Tabby.” He added: “Leicester are better than us, we’ve lost to a better team, but they don’t need any assistance. The second goal as well; we had the ball up in the final third, we lose it and it ends up in our net.”

Ipswich did improve after the restart against a Foxes side who had expended a great deal of energy in a 2-2 midweek draw at Nottingham Forest, something McCarthy had mentioned in the pre-match build-up.

“If you can tell me that Vardy and Nugent were tired then I’ll show my a**e in Burton’s window!” quipped the Yorkshiremen. “Do you know what? That’s all psychological babble that. You just hope that’s going to be the case. They’re top of the league by a street, they’ll all very, very good players, fit, healthy young men and you can cope with it when you’ve got players of the ability they’ve got.

“I thought we played well in the second half. They’re 2-0 up though. There’s two sides to it. Were they going to keep going for a third when they don’t need to? I thought we had some opportunities to do better than we did but didn’t take them.

“We got punished by a better team. I think they’ll stroll it (the league) by a million miles. I think they’re the best team by a street.”

– See Monday’s EADT and Ipswich Star for match analysis and more reaction.