IAN “Charlie” McParland will never forget his second and final game as caretaker manager of Ipswich Town.

IAN “Charlie” McParland will never forget his second and final game as caretaker manager of Ipswich Town.

The 49-year-old Scotsman was in dream-land after seeing Town beat Arsenal 1-0 in a Carling Cup semi-final first leg tie at a packed Portman Road tonight.

“We sweated blood tonight,” enthused McParland.

“The lads were fantastic. They showed a lot of character to bounce back from Sunday’s game (7-0 defeat at Chelsea).

“I knew we would give a fine performance tonight. The three in the middle were fantastic (Colin Healy, Mark Kennedy and David Norris), but all 11 of them were fantastic!

“I told them to try and keep it to 0-0 for as long as they could, because I could always see us nicking a goal late on,” added a triumphant McParland.

McParland is set to leave Portman Road tomorrow morning, with new boss Paul Jewell, who was watching from the stands tonight, likely to bring in his own back-room staff.