Ipswich Town boss Mick McCarthy admitted that it was painful for the club to crash out of the Capital One Cup after extra-time at Crawley Town tonight, but says there were plenty of positives to take from the game.
The Blues dominated the second period but couldn’t make the pressure count, Teddy Bishop rattling the bar in the final minute before Izale McLeod stabbed home in the 110th minute to snatch a 1-0 for the League One hosts.
With the club having now exited the League Cup at the hands of lower league opposition in nine of the last 12 seasons, McCarthy said: “It’s a painful way to go out. I’d have preferred it not to have been in extra-time so that Chambo (Luke Chambers), Christophe (Berra) and Elliott Hewitt (the only players who started again following Saturday’s 2-1 home win over Fulham) wouldn’t have had another half an hour.
“What did I make of the performance? I thought bits of it was okay, we had chances to win the game and we weren’t good enough – we didn’t score.
“I thought we had good spells in the second half when we could have done better. In not doing so we let them off the hook, likewise with the goal. Alex Henshall put a ball in and it ends up as a corner kick for them instead of us and they score from it.
“It was a tough way to go out.”
With academy graduates Matt Clarke (centre-back who played at left-back), Bishop (central midfield) and Darren McQueen (striker who came on as a right-winger) all getting valuable game-time, new signings Bartosz Bialkowski, Kevin Bru and Alex Henshall making their full debuts, McCarthy said: “Sometimes you come off the pitch and say ‘can you take any positives out of that?’ Well I thought Clarkey (Matt Clarke) was absolutely outstanding, I thought Teddy Bishop did well and ‘Stevie’ (Darren) McQueen did well to be fair. I was really pleased with them and I’ve just told them I’m disappointed we haven’t got another round for them to play in because they acquitted themslevs really well.”
On the transfer-listed Taylor, who was Town’s biggest attacking threat before he was subbed in the second half, McCarthy said: “I know what Tayls is about. I thought he could have done better with his chances. He opened the goal up and missed the target completely because he tried to put it in the top corner. If he made the keeper work we might have got a rebound, but he’d done brilliantly to get in that position.
“I thought Alex Henshall did well, but listen; he’s just a kid, a work in progress. We’ve brought him in from Manchester City and I think we’ll get something out of him.”
Asked if there was anyway Taylor could play his way back into the first team fold, the Blues boss replied: “No, not really. He’s still available for loan or for transfer.”
Meanwhile, McCarthy played down the appearance of former loanee and fans’ favourite Jonny Williams in the crowd.
Asked about the presence of the Crystal Palace player behind the dugouts, he replied: “He asked for a couple of tickets, Fran (manager’s PA) asked me if he could have two and I said he could have two free tickets and a fiver out the till.”
And when asked if there was any chance at all of bringing the Welsh international back in on loan, he said: “That’s not even a story. I can give you one answer one way or another and you could make a story out of it. He’s come to watch the game because he lives fairly local and wanted to see his mates.”
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