Town boss Mick McCarthy admitted that the Blues were beaten by a better side after losing 1-0 to Hull City at Portman Road.

“I thought the first half was pretty even,” he said. “The second half, although it wasn’t long into it, I thought we started well and put a decent cross into the box but unfortunately for us the keeper caught it and they showed their quality because the left-back Andrew Robertson is off and running and [they scored].

“It’s always disappointing however you concede but had we scored that we’d be waxing lyrical about it because it was a fantastic goal, everything about it, the pass, the finish. They showed their quality then for 10 minutes, it could have got worse.

“What I would say is that I always credit our lads for sticking with it and as bonkers as this league is we could have nicked something in the last minutes.”

Town claimed penalties in the first half when Brett Pitman appeared to be pushed by Robertson and in the second when Jonathan Douglas went to ground as he broke into the area.

“I’d like to see the penalties again,” McCarthy added. “I thought they were good shouts for penalties.

“I think they had a couple as well that they were shouting for, but I don’t think he was ever going to give one tonight whatever happened.

“In the first half we could have nicked the lead, I thought, for our performance before half-time.

“But that’s the fine margins of the Championship, of any league really, but of the Championship certainly, but we blinked first.

“I think they’ve only conceded 19 goals so they’re not an easy team to break down. And I might add that they’re a bloody good team full of bloody good players and, to be honest, they were the better team on the night.”

McCarthy was disappointed to concede so soon after the break: “The talk in the dressing room was about making a good start, don’t concede because it’ll be hard if you do because they don’t give goals away. But we did.

“I can’t say, having looked at it, that we did a lot wrong. It was a fantastic goal really. I hate saying that but that’s just the way it is because it was a bit of quality.”

The Blues boss admits that his side’s play-off push is starting to slip: “If you lose five out of six in all competitions, that is just the case. We’ve lost three on the bounce now but we’ve got to try and remain positive and get back at it.

“We have lost players, we’ve lost really important players. That wasn’t such a bad performance against the league leaders, who are really good team.

“But we’ll need to play better than that and have a bit more quality, I think, which is really important.”

McCarthy felt Hull did to the Blues what his Championship-winning sides did to other clubs by keeping Town to few chances, particularly in the second half.

“I remember being at Wolves and winning the competition and being at Sunderland and we had games where nobody had shots against us because we were a really good team and we won it by eight points on two occasions.

“They are a good side. Perhaps we should give them a bit of credit for being a good side. We didn’t have that many shots but we had our chances in the first half and if you score those it’s a different game.”

Reflecting on the difference between the two squads, Hull having benefited from parachute payments after being relegated from the Premier League last season, he said: “I look at the two players up front who cost collectively £15 million, Abel Hernández and Mohamed Diamé. Not bad, is it?

“In terms of that we’re comparing apples and pears, it’s two different things. What we’ve done is compete against a really good side and actually could have nicked something.

“They were the better side, they are the better side, they’re top of the league, they’re a better side than us, I’ll just hold my hand up. But that doesn’t mean we can’t beat them just because they’re a better side and for a period in the game I thought we might.”

McCarthy said he was pleased with Ben Pringle’s home debut: “I thought his contribution was good in a tough game and certainly his freekicks and corners have good quality.”

He confirmed that Luke Hyam suffered an injury when he went off in the second half: “Hyamsy had a fitness test before the game today. He came in this morning with a tight hamstring, he had treatment, went home and had a kip and it felt all right.

“He was fine in his pre-match test and he worked his nuts off and just had it tighten up, so hopefully he’ll be OK.”

The Town boss said Ainsley Maitland-Niles was fit despite being omitted from the 18: “No, he was just left out.”

Hull manager Steve Bruce felt his team’s superiority showed after the break: “It was difficult for us in the first half, I have to say, against a really committed Ipswich team who mirror their manager in terms of their effort and endeavour. They made it difficult in the first half.

“But in the second half we showed that bit of extra class and really we could have put it to bed. We had two or three opportunities after we scored and didn’t take the second one.

“But overall, again we’ve come away from home and showed that resilience that hopefully will stand us in good stead.”

Photo: Action Images

cats_whiskers added 11:46 - Feb 24 Essex 57 or (McCarthy's love child) is just one dimensional person who has just one ability and that is to have some kind of perverse pleasure in down marking people's opinions, and he is devoid of any substance when he actually posts anything, with his rose tinted glasses views.
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1psw1ch added 12:55 - Feb 24 We are doomed
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LordMamu added 13:03 - Feb 24 We don't play football, we just make it hard for other teams to play football. God, it's so embarrassing. Get this dinosaur out of our club.
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alfromcol added 14:15 - Feb 24 Not that many posts on here considering the poor performance consequences and the site of the Premiership promised land disappearing over the horizon. I think a lot of posters have given up too, sick of posting the obvious. Oh well there is always next season. MM might come round to thinking that perhaps there are some players out there who could be better than his squad members?

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alfromcol added 14:31 - Feb 24 Murphy getting a bit of stick from MM during the game was seen to mouth F off - not sure what that means but a bit of disharmony!
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paborley added 15:33 - Feb 24 Very poor game,this will be my last vist this season I am sorry to say,a team of misfits which is going nowhere I think Mick is ok but ok is not good enough. Money does not always work but Mr Evans should have given Mick a little help in Jan for that extra push. See you next season maybe
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essex57 added 16:15 - Feb 24 What was offensive in that I only asked his profession which he was so descriptive of in his post that's all.
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JackDeVos added 16:28 - Feb 24 I didn't even read this but I can tell McCarthy is talking S***
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brittaniaman added 16:30 - Feb 24 I do not think there is much to add to what has previously been said !!! Just that next season we will be still in the Championship, starting off well and then fading away after a couple of months or so ,also another 3 premiership teams coming down accompanied by parachute money, while we will be struggling along with Freebies and loanees ??? there has to be a change some way or other because a lot of customers are not going to put up with it !!!

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Cheshire_Blue added 16:40 - Feb 24 Quite right. We were beaten by a better team that cost millions to put together. Do any of the anti McCarthy brigade think Jose Mourinho would do any better on the current budget?
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essex57 added 16:55 - Feb 24 Strange cats whiskers I have got quiet a few plus marks for my comments on last night's match however let me clear up a couple of points raised by you first I am not Mccarthys love child the nearest I have ever been to him is the distance between my seat at Portman Rd and the dugout (I do find your comment quiet offensive but hope I've got enough intelligence to rise above it). Secondly I can't help if I don't agree with some posters on here who continually harp on about no ambition no plan b should of purchased in the January windows lack of tactics the list goes on, people make statements on here as if they are a fly on the wall at Playford Rd or in the boardroom there posts are based on reading between the lines and heresay on news items. No one will ever know what constraints McCarthey is working under and he certainly isn't going to bite the hand that feeds him by divulging contractual issues the thing I would take issue with is he shouldn't make statements like he can't get better than he's already got nobody with half a brain can believe he really meant that. IMO we as supporters have no right to tell the owner what to with his money especially as he's already chucked 80 million plus at the club. So I'm afraid until he sells the club we will have to make the best of it. Finally on the game last night compared with the away game I thought we competed well I am under no illusion that we came any where near the class of Hull but our team grafted for 90 minutes that's all you can ask I know the next thing is going to be players out of position etc etc at the end of the day everyone was saying a few weeks ago Bru should of played he was our midfield saviour he didn't take his chance, Parr when he was here didn't take his few chances so it's not an exact science I believe MM and TC do the best they can with what they've got there are plenty of coaches out there who could have the same players and be fighting relegation!!

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essex57 added 16:59 - Feb 24 Cheshire blue unfortunately there are plenty who do.
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MicksZzzTactics added 17:07 - Feb 24 WOW! Lots of great 'ANTI-posts' of one sort or another during the last 20 hrs and counting, as more and more fans are "Seeing The Light" :-) as in getting apparently IRREVERSIBLE fed up -- and then some! -- with both our tax-benefit fixated Ebenezer Scrooge impersonation known as ME, the nowadays "freewheeling up until possibly 2020" football fossil known as MM The Manager and his grossly tactical inept and lame brand of HOOFball anno 2016 utterly devoid of any solid entertainment being served them game after game -- at increasingly out-of-proportion prices (compared to value) mind you!-- and gradually also of at least some of those same faces 'serving' it to them on the pitch i.e. The Dinosaur's hard-working but in the case of 90+% of them woefully 1-dimensional limited and especially uncreative very own favorite pets and favorite "square pegs"!!! Yes us "The silly & clueless moaners", youngish as oldish, among the ITFC fanbase are growing in numbers by the DAY! ... so 'The Wannabe Spanish Inquisitor' gang and their cohorts currently controlling The Forum better watch out .... cause pretty soon we could be taking over this whole lovely TWTD site!!! lol HeHeHeHe :-) Sadly though I have a very very hard time coming up with any realistic non-relegation scenario whatsoever whereby ME would actually sack MM ... including should his ultra ineffective pure-luck-controlled HOOFball somehow result in him bypassing Roy Keane's unfathomable stretch of 13 games without a win ... and besides we all remember vividly how relative slooow Marcus "I've absolutely no idea about how football should be played or how to run a football club" Evans was to react to the rather quickly established blatantly obvious "incompetence" of both Mr. Keane, Mr. Jewell and even Mr. Clegg (who of course was not officially sacked but instead chose to just strangely very suddenly resign). .......... Bottomline is that MM and his faithful also-prehistoric sidekick i.e. the also very much "Hoof" advocating TC (Ever had a seat close enough to the the bench to be able to actually listen to TC shouting more or less direct "Hoof" orders to some of the players??? Hilarious!!!) are signed and paid to AT LEAST the summer of 2018 but with an option for an additional 2 years .... so IMHO anything short of a relegation to League 1 in say the 2016/2017 season (or possibly also a slightly unrealistic massive coordinated 'exodus' of paying customers from PR!) would simply result in us fans having to endure 'The Dinosaur' and EVERYTHING negative that goes with him and his totalitarian-like-I-don't-give-a-flying-f*** regime probably until 2020!!!, because the seemingly completely unambitious ME seems shockingly fully contend with MM just keeping the club in the "cozy & warm comfort" of The Championship just as long as he can also adhere to the Fair Play rules!!! Thus while It's undeniably 'sad' being an Ipswich fan these days as well as for us longtimers see what has happened to and become of this once proud FOOTBALL club, I fear things are gonna get a lot 'sadder' (post 2020???!!!) before they ever get better!

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essexboy added 17:44 - Feb 24 Cheshireblue,it's the style of football we play,that's the problem,and it will never change while this management are in charge.If your happy with watching Hoof ball all the time that's your choice,but not mine or many other fed up supporters.
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Keaneish added 18:44 - Feb 24 Essex57 - if you think MM is doing the best with this squad you are off your rocker. I remember earlier in the season your mantra was, "we're making progress, look at the league position", but that was all you had to point to. Now that's failing, as a lot of people predicted (who you targeted as 'moaners'), you've got nothing to back up your blind faith with. We're in a terrible state mate and that's because of MM, not the lack of cash. That's the bottom line. There are no positives at the moment other than we're not in the bottom three and that's scant consolation. Get a grip of reality. You remind me of all those Trump scicophants lapping up any nonsense they can and calling it optimism when actually it's really called ignorance!

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essex57 added 19:05 - Feb 24 Keanish why is your opinion so right and mine so wrong ?
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Keaneish added 19:08 - Feb 24 It's not just my opinion though is it? It's about 90% of people's on here!
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essex57 added 19:09 - Feb 24 Prebsa people target me for disagreeing and down marking you are not to bad at it either.
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jas0999 added 19:16 - Feb 24 Keanish - yep, at least 90% I would say.
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warktheline added 19:35 - Feb 24 McCarthy has reached 'scratch me ed time ', The club is now flatlining, where it goes from here is anybody's guess! Sadly I'm extremely confident nobody will be asking me to eat humble pie for quite some time! Over to you Bohslegend, essex57 etc zzzzzzzzz.
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brittaniaman added 19:49 - Feb 24 Also I meant to mention is the state of our pitch !!!! especially in front of the co-op stand where it has really got thin along the whole of that side ???? I mean it has not not been overplayed because of the time we have had between games lately this season ?? what has happened to our once lovely turf ??? come back Ferguson !!!!!!
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grubbyoik added 19:54 - Feb 24 I think there is a lot of luck associated with being a manager... When we had Bru Bishop Mcgoldrick etc playing week in week out they are naturally good players who s natural game is to play clever football.. A good manager builds his team around these types of players and a style of play blossoms... That's easy management.. When the players at your disposal maybe don't have such a natural flair to play clever football then it is up to the manager and his coaches to train them and show them.... Was MM a clever footballer.. .. Does he have the skill to show them.. Well.. We ve been waiting all season and it appears not.. He has the players respect granted.. They like him.. We won't get relegated to L1 with MM... Will we get promoted.. I don't think so.. The managers that get their teams promoted.. Have a hard working.. Well drilled.. Organised clever team that can pick on teams weaknesses and bully them in various ways to beat them. That's what teams are doing to us.. Maybe they have better managers..

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TimmyH added 19:55 - Feb 24 What an embarrassment we'd be if somehow we made the Premiership under McCarthy under the ethos he currently has and under Evans no/low spending policy as simply you can't change your 'spots' in a summer to cope going up a big level...BIG re-think needs to be done next season by both ME and MM unless they are happy to trawl along like the club has been doing this season (which wouldn't surprise me).

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grumpyoldman added 19:57 - Feb 24 Just a point MM says we were beaten by a better team, can anybody remember a game this season when we totally outplayed or even were better than the opposition and lost, have we been robbed once this season?
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prebsa added 20:36 - Feb 24 Essex57 you are correct I do give out down marks and they are all to you! I think Keanish is being. Ice when he says 90%! You really are deluded!
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