Ipswich v Brighton: Ipswich Town manager Mick McCarthy issued a passionate defence of his decision to stick with Dean Gerken in goal for today’s visit of Brighton to Portman Road.

The summer signing from Bristol City made a hash of coming to collect a long ball in the closing stages of last Sunday’s 2-0 defeat at Wigan, allowing Nick Powell to score in the 89th minute and kill off the Blues’ push for an equaliser.

Fellow custodian Scott Loach has been immediately dropped after making high-profile mistakes on two occasions during his Town career; by previous boss Paul Jewell following the 2-1 home defeat to Cardiff last October and by McCarthy just last month after letting Leeds United’s winner creep under his body.

Asked whether he’d be sticking with Gerken today, the Blues boss said: “Absolutely, yeah, yeah. That’s just a cock up that. It’s not like coming for a cross and dropping it or things spilling off you, not doing things you expect keepers to do, it’s just a mistake.

“Let me tell you, I’ve been there as a player with a bad back pass or a stupid tackle that gives a penalty away.

“It’s not him playing badly, it’s just one rick – that’s all. He’s been excellent; I think he’s been great.”

Gerken had impressed in his first three games for Town, a 1-1 draw at Birmingham and back-to-back home wins over Middlesbrough and Yeovil. On all three occasions he could do nothing about the goals conceded.

The same could have been said about Loach though, the 25-year-old having finished last season superbly, saving a penalty in pre-season, keeping a clean sheet in the home win over Millwall and unfortunate in the narrow away defeats at newly-relegated Reading and QPR.

“You’re comparing apples and pears there; you can’t,” said Mccarthy, when asked how the situations differed. “Just go back (to when Loach was dropped). We had lost 75% of our games then hadn’t we? We’ve now only lost one in four.

“It’s a completely different situation and doesn’t bear any resemblance at all.”

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