Middlesbrough boss Michael Carrick had mixed feelings following his side’s 1-1 draw with the Blues at Portman Road.

The result all but ended the ninth-placed Teessiders’ hopes of making the play-offs with Norwich City in sixth eight points ahead of them with three to play.

“It’s a tough place to come and you can see they’re a really good team, confidence is high and they’re in a really good place,” Carrick reflected.

“Their record here is really good, so it was always going to be challenging to come here, which makes it probably a decent point in isolation,

“But, for us, we came here to win and we wanted to win, so it’s a bit of mixed feelings really overall. It could have been three points with the chances we had.

“I thought the boys did ever so well and put in a hell of an effort. On a normal day, we might see that as a good result, but there’s no hiding from what we need at this stage. We were close and possibly should have won it.”

Carrick, a close friend of Blues boss Kieran McKenna from their spells at Tottenham as players and on the staff at Manchester United together, added: “I thought we handled the occasion pretty well, got ourselves in front with a good goal and grew into the game. In the second half we were defensively better and had chances on the break.

“We’ve often come away to the teams at the top and done well. But there’s no hiding from the fact that there is a bit of disappointment that we haven’t won the game."

Photo: Matchday Images

BobbyBell added 09:54 - Apr 14 Strange comment that " Possible should have won it". Our keeper made two excellent saves because that's his job and he's good at it. A good keeper earns you points as much as any other team member. Ipswich also several had chances to win it but your keeper, deflections from defenders and the woodwork got in the way. Good teams prevent goals as well as score them. I don't know whether Carrick plays golf but you get nothing there either if the ball nearly goes in the hole.

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MidlandsBlue92 added 10:01 - Apr 14 Bobby bell - strange comment from you, Carrick is absolutely right, they possibly could have won it and Hladky made two very good saves. Same goes for us, we could also have won it with the Hutchinson chance. Nothing wrong with that assessment for me. Another good town performance, just couldn’t work the ball into shooting opportunities as frequently as a few weeks ago. Two week break is massive for us. Good point and we move on!

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Suffolkboy added 10:04 - Apr 14 Smashing comments BB ! MC is honest but obviously a bit rueful — then I’d hazard so have many Mgrs been on leaving P Rd without points ! ITFC home records are terrific this season ,and VH plus the whole defensive unit earn their keep ! COYB
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WhoisJimmyJuan added 10:16 - Apr 14 Tbf, he doesn't say "we deserved to win it" or "we were unlucky", just focuses on chances they didn't take. If you're harsh you could pick up on the "should have won" comment, countering with the chances we had, but most managers only focus in their own team when asked for reaction.
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Len_Brennan added 10:17 - Apr 14 Don't be so disappointed Michael, you have a big home game up next against Leeds that you'll want to be taking very seriously.
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UhlenbeekDownTheWing added 11:11 - Apr 14 His comments are largely fair…apart from the fact the slowed everything down and wasted as much time as possible throughout the second half. Not really tactics of a team trying to win…
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virginblue added 11:27 - Apr 14 Opposition manager gives an honest account and a couple on here still criticise him. I assume those same people will criticise KM for saying we deserved to win the game?
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johnwarksshorts added 12:18 - Apr 14 Fair comments. I can see McKenna and Carrick in charge at Man U in future, but hopefully still in charge at town in Prem next season
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pennblue added 13:15 - Apr 14 Agree with Lee. Michael,your team have a chance to showcase to your fans (and chairman) what next season could bring
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muhrensleftfoot added 17:02 - Apr 14 Carrick is a top manager. Handicapped with lots of injuries earlier in the season otherwise they’d be nailed on for playoffs. Really hoping they do us a big favour v Leeds
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Europablue added 18:13 - Apr 14 MidlandsBlue92 When you draw and you had chances to win of course both teams are going to think that they could have won it! The goal they scored took advantage of a poor pass to Hladky who refused to give away a throw and instead started off their attack. I get that it's good to keep the ball in play, but we have to learn that if there is no good option of a ball to play, then if you can't just hoof it upfield, just smash it into the stands!

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blues1 added 14:51 - Apr 15 Europablue. It wasnt a case of Hladky not wanting to give away a throw in at all. Was simply a case of a poor back pass from Morsy, that meant, Haldky was at full stretch to prevent a corner.
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