McCarthy: Pompey Deserved to Win Tuesday, 19th Jan 2016 22:32 Town boss Mick McCarthy admitted that Portsmouth fully deserved their 2-1 victory over the Blues in this evening’s FA Cup third round replay at Fratton Park. “I thought Portsmouth played well again tonight and deserved to win,” he said. “I think that we’ve given barmy goals away, to be honest with you, and you’re never going to win against anybody if you’re going to give goals like that away. “A bit like at home, I thought we were better in the second half. But, as I said, we gave the penalty away and we didn’t defend a cross which was pretty routine.” McCarthy had no argument regarding the penalty, awarded in the first half after Piotr Malarczyk had fouled former Blue Gary Roberts, who netted the spotkick: “None at all.” Having changed his entire XI, the Town boss says the performance reaffirmed his belief that his regular team is the best he has available: “It’s confirmed to me what I probably already know, that the best side is the one that’s been playing. “With Christophe Berra with a shoulder injury and Chambo playing with a calf strain on Saturday, I need them this Saturday and to have a chance of being in those play-offs I need that best team playing week in, week out. “And unfortunately, that’s why some of them had to play [this evening]. Did any of them give me a problem about picking my team over the next few weeks? I don’t think so, no. But I know the ones who are capable of playing.” McCarthy felt sent-off defender Malarczyk’s second yellow card was a touch harsh but wasn’t interested in debating the minutiae of the game: “He’s run across him. There’s no intent in it, he’s just running back and he’s run across him. “I’m not here to complain, they deserved to win, so complaining about other things is irrelevant to me.” Does he have any regrets about fielding such an extensively changed team? “None whatsoever, except that our fans didn’t see a particularly good performance from the lads who came in. “I think Brett and Reg up front have had to work damned hard, and Ainsley, Luke Hyam, Tabby. Some of the young ‘uns who have come in, if I need them over the next 19 games they’re going to have to perform. “Like I said, none of them have really given me any great headaches in terms of picking them, I know who the best players are.” He added: “I’m disappointed to lose, of course I am. I didn’t come here to lose. Maybe the fact that these haven’t played for 10 days meant that they were fully fresh and they played well at our place. They deserved to win there.” Portsmouth assistant manager Leam Richardson said: “From both the games, first we went to Ipswich and we thought we gave a good account of ourselves down there and were disappointed with the goal to take it to a replay. “But you’re playing against a good team in Ipswich, a top Championship side with a class manager and management team, so to get ourselves through was a great credit to our lads.” Despite Town exiting the competition, Reading’s 5-2 victory at home to Huddersfield means Town’s Championship game against the Royals set for a week on Saturday will be postponed and will be played on Tuesday 2nd February.
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