Ipswich Town boss Mick McCarthy thought his Blues side deserved to pick up all three points against Leeds United at Portman Road, following Saturday afternoon’s 1-1 draw in the Championship.
Freddie Sears gave Town a ninth-minute lead, with his third goal of the season, only for Stuart Dallas to equalise three minutes before the break, against the run of play.
Town had chances to win the game in the second half, David McGoldrick hitting the woodwork, then forcing a good save from Rob Green.
Leeds remain in fifth place, while Town are 13th and McCarthy said: “It was a really good positive performance and we could’ve won the game, I thought we were the better team.”
McCarthy made three changes for the game, Cole Skuse coming in for the ineligible Toumani Diagouraga, Christophe Berra replacing Josh Emmanuel in defence, and Sears coming in for the suspended Tom Lawrence.
On Sears, McCarthy said: “It was a toss-up, it was keenly-contested yesterday when the striker position was available because of Tom being missing.
“Myself and TC (Terry Connor) spoke about it, we were not certain which one to go with, we had options, but we both thought Freddie would give us movement, pace, legs.
“Having been out of the team, I think sometimes, when he’s gone as many games as he had without scoring .... everyone wants to play and they will never admit to it, but when it’s going tough it’s a bit of a relief sometimes.
“We were having to scrap it out and it wasn’t going well, and he’s come back into a team that’s playing well and he’s really energised it with his movement, with his pace and running power. They haven’t enjoyed playing against him today.
“I am delighted he got his goal because for all his other stuff, he wants to score.”
Sears scored the Blues goal but it was McGoldrick and Emyr Huws who once again caught the eye.
On Huws, McCarthy added: “Emyr hasn’t been playing. He played against Fulham (for Cardiff) in the FA Cup and that was about his only game since the start of the season, so for him to come in and done what he has, and then go Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, in really physically tough games, he’s done great.”
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