Whilst we stay in the play-off places, there is really no need to fret over selection issues I guess.
Having read a lot of comments from blues fans on other Ipswich websites, I cannot help but notice the one thing that most people are in agreement on. Cole Skuse is not worth his place in the team.
Mick McCarthy is however his own man and perhaps this is not the right time to be too critical of his rather curious selections.
I am equally dumbfounded about what he sees in Skuse but I guess he does help the defence to some extent because he is a defence minded midfielder and a bit of a spoiler, which just about sums him up!
Certainly against an attack-minded Bournemouth there was some logic in selecting him but when he plays alongside Luke Hyam you know that our midfield will lack any flair or creativity to support our attack and we do look a bit lob-sided.
McCarthy probably felt that his options were limited with the loss of Jonathan Williams and the only flair player in the midfield was the soon to be withdrawn Kevin Bru.
Thankfully when he went off injured early in the first half, it was good to see Teddy Bishop return to the fold and his creativity and his goal went a long way to compensating for what was essentially a defence minded team.
The absence through injury of Stephen Hunt probably forced his hand a bit too and it gave Paul Anderson a chance to get back into first team action.
In fairness it was his accurate free kick that lead to the Daryl Murphy header that got us a point!
When we look back in hindsight at the end of the season on this result, it may indeed be much more valuable than it appears right now.
Other draws against Forest and Derby away tell us a bit about our resilience these days and as many people have alluded to, we would have folded under the kind of pressure Bournemouth imposed, if this had been last season.
So then, things are still looking up and we are looking down on another 20 teams in the Sky Bet Championship so no real need to be too critical of Mick the Man it seems.
We must not count our chickens though but it is a case of so far so good and long may it continue!
