McCarthy Happy to Settle With Point

By TownFans.co.uk
November 24 2012

Town boss Mick McCarthy admitted that he was happy to get a point from this Npower League Championship match against Peterborough United at Portman Road this afternoon.

Town went behind after just eight minutes of time following some all too familiar poor defending from Danny Higginbotham and Aaron Cresswell gave Lee Tomlin a chance on goal which he did not hesitate to take to send the Championship's bottom club ahead early in the game.

Town were to draw level in the second half after being awarded a fairly soft penalty after midfielder Lee Martin went down in the area under the challenge of Tomlin. Loan striker DJ Campbell stepped up and converted the penalty to bring Town back on terms, but the home side were unable to build on the equaliser and the game finished level.

Following a positive results for fellow strugglers Bristol City, the draw saw Town slide down one further place in the table, to 23rd place and are now one point off safety with 28 games left in the season, remaining a single point ahead of Peterborough.

Speaking after the game in reference to the Town performance, manager Mick McCarthy admitted that it was without a doubt one point gained rather than two dropped: “Both I guess – but I’d say a point won.

"I’ll have to pick the bones out of how we conceded, but it looked like another soft, milky one. Teams just seem to score against us too easy.

“We didn’t play well in the first half, we couldn’t pass it our own team mates, but the performance towards the end of the half gave me encouragement.

“I could see us getting better, thankfully we improved in the second half, we showed a bit of intensity and I think we deserved a point that’s for sure.”

The former Sunderland boss also admitted that he understood the frustration of the Town support: “The fans deserved to boo us off at half-time because we were pretty poor in the first half, but second half I thought there was a response from everybody – both the players and the crowd. 

“There were chances at both ends as the game became really stretched. We’re trying to win it and that put us in danger of losing it too. The keeper made a good save at the end as they broke on us a couple of times, It wasn’t great, but it was exciting.”

McCarthy added that he kept the advice simple in his half time team talk: “I did ask if it was at all possible for them to pass to someone in the same coloured shirt. I’m deadly serious. Our passing was awful at times in the first half, but it did get better in the second half.”