Ipswich Town manager Mick McCarthy was forced to turn to black humour after Blues nemesis David Nugent struck twice to secure Leicester City a come-from-behind 2-1 win at Portman Road.

The 28-year-old took his goal tally against the Suffolk side to 13 in 12 matches and has now scored on all seven of his visits to Portman Road, having also netted for Preston, Portsmouth and the England Under-21s side.

When informed of Nugent’s incredible record, McCarthy quipped: “I’m ******* delighted for him!”

Then, after a long pause, added: “Let’s hope they get promoted so he can p*** off out of my sight! That would be great that. He’s a good player, he’s a top-class striker in this league.”

Ipswich had taken a second minute lead through David McGoldrick’s strike, but were outplayed after the break as Nugent scored in the 51st and 57th minutes.

Leicester are now on level points with Burnley and QPR at the top of the table, with the 12th-placed Blues having lost to all three of the aforementioned teams by just a single goal.

“I’ve just been asked if I take any comfort from these games being so close? No I don’t,” said McCarthy.

“We played well in the first half, it was a good performance and I don’t think their shape (4-3-3) was causing us any problems.

“They’ve scored two well-taken goals in the second half, but our contribution to those goals was huge.

“The first one we’re closing the keeper down and it ends up in our net following an innocuous clearance. The second one we’re in possession of the ball and it ends up in our net again.

“It was cobblers what we did in the build up to it. It was tiny little error after tiny little error. That ain’t good enough. It’s not right.”

He continued: “They’re good finishes and they made us pay. How many players in this league would have finished that first time, when it’s bouncing back to them? I don’t know. It was a great strike.

“That’s the difference. If you make tiny errors against good teams you get beat. That’s what happened.”

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