Ipswich Town boss Mick McCarthy says Ainsley Maitland-Niles needs to be shown some love after he gave away a costly stoppage-time penalty in tonight’s 2-2 draw at rock-bottom Bolton.

The Blues had been outplayed, but were still on course for victory until Maitland-Niles tripped fellow Arsenal player Wellington Silva in the box with a lazy leg to allow Stephen Dobbie to convert from the spot in the sixth and final minute of added time.

“I told him ‘kick the ******* thing out’,” said McCarthy. “He told me ‘he dived, I got the ball’. Until I see it back I won’t know if that’s the case, but he shouldn’t have given the referee a decision to make.

“But I just said to the lads, ‘we all need a bit of love, none of us need a kick when we’re down’. When you’ve made a mistake you don’t need people to say ‘here, have a kick in the nuts’. I said ‘anyone who hasn’t made a mistake can stand up and punch me in the nose’. Well nobody got up.

“We’ve all made mistakes. I made mistakes when I was a lot older and a lot wiser than Ainsley is. I hope he learns from it. He put a great ball in for the goal and almost made a third. He’s a kid, give him a bit of loving. That’s what we need to do.”

The Blues boss added: “The pressure was off them and they played with gay abandon. They were excellent and had we won we’d have burgled it completely.

“Of course it’s a missed opportunity, given the other results, but you can actually put too much emphasis on that and forget what we’re all about.

“Let’s go down to Cardiff (on Saturday) and try to get something by sticking together. That’s the way we’ve survived and thrived. We’re still in it.”

Match report – Pages 66/67