Ipswich Town boss Mick McCarthy says conceding two stoppage-time goals, to draw 2-2 at Brentford, won’t blight his feelings about a ‘terrific’ performance over 90 minutes.
The new-look Blues counter-attacked with panache and deservedly led through Kevin Bru’s fine scissor kick and Ryan Fraser’s cool finish, those goals scored either side of the break.
Then came late heartbreak, Andre Gray shrugging off the attentions of Tommy Smith to score in the 92nd minute before James Tarkowski bundled home the ball on the goalline after a 95th minute corner caused chaos in the box.
McCarthy’s heavy sigh as he sat down to conduct his post match press conference said it all. His feelings were more of disappointment, rather than anger, after a bitter-sweet start to the 2015/15 Championship campaign.
Asked if he could sum up his feelings, he replied: “Not really. No. It’s just an annoying one that. We should have won the game.”
He continued: “We were 2-0 up. If you don’t score again and put it beyond all reasonable doubt then make sure you lock the back door. They were two poor goals to concede.
“It’s a bit simplistic to say it’s one thing. When a team gets one goal they get momentum. Bart (keeper Bartosz Bialkowski) is saying he’s impeded, I’m not so sure. Not that much.
“You can almost smell it coming when they got that last corner kick. We should have defended it better though. That was poor on our behalf, but good on theirs. They had Jonny on the spot.”
When it was put to him that his side had looked pretty easy on the eye up until the late drama, debutant flying wingers Fraser and Ainsley Maitland-Niles particularly impressive, he said: “That’s the difficulty, I’m really delighted at the way we played. I thought we were terrific.
“It’s a shame that three minutes like that can annoy you and p*** you off so much. It can blight your feelings on the performance, but it won’t do because I thought we were outstanding. As an away performance I thought we were excellent.
“We just can’t let that happen again.”
He added: “I’m sure their coach is ecstatic. It’s like a win for them, but they’ll know they’ve had a bit of a doing apart from the last three minutes.
“Forty-five games to go hey? I’ll be sat here feeling the same again at some stage I’m sure.”
Asked what he has said to his players in the dressing room, the Blues boss said: “I’ve said to them exactly what’s I’ve said to you. For 90 minutes we produced an outstanding performance and I was delighted.
“I’ll watch it back on Monday morning and after that I’ll be fine. I’ll be ready to go again. We’ve got a game on Tuesday (at home against Stevenage in the League Cup), another on Saturday (at home against Sheffield Wednesday). Roll on May hey?!”
With Kevin Bru limping off in discomfort early in the second half, McCarthy explained: “It looks like he’s damaged his hamstring, how severely I don’t know. We’ll find out tomorrow. We won’t know until it’s settled down.”
And on the absent Teddy Bishop, he said: “He’s got a bit of a hamstring problem too.”
– See Monday’s EADT and Ipswich Star for match analysis and more reaction.
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