Drab Draw Could Cost Town Dear

According to Town boss Mick McCarthy this was not the result he wanted but he will gladly take a point any day, rather than lose.

The sad reality of course is that not picking up three against a team in 23rd place in the Sky bet Championship has to be seen as a huge disappointment and may well deprive us of any chance of getting an automatic Premiership birth.

Let’s face it though, both teams played exceedingly poorly and the floating contingent that have more recently got back in the habit of visiting Portman Road again may just stay away after this.

Where the tactics wrong? Well maybe. Mick the man has gone back into his shell of late and those earlier attacking options he employed are no longer evident.

After the game he said that he thought about changing things and playing three up front but he was fearful that instead of getting one point we may just get none and not losing means everything to him as we all know.

Actually, I think what when wrong was much more to do with team selections than Town formations and I do wish he would not persist in playing Paul Anderson, who in my view is not creative enough.

I admit he does play the odd blinder but these games are few and far between and I was disappointed that both Darren Ambrose and Stephen Hunt did not come on.

In fact, in a game like this, I would have played Stephen Hunt from the start because I think in his headless chicken sort of way he does ruffle a fair few feathers and plays a high energy game.

Alex Henshall too should have at least got on to the bench but defense minded Mick decided that he needed both Jonathan Parr and Matte Clarke in there and when he made substitutions, it seemed to be more about containment than attack.

Now I do not want to be too critical of Mick McCarthy because with very limited resources he has exceeded all expectations and we are still only three points off the leaders, which at this stage in the season is quite extraordinary.

But winning your home games is a vital ingredient of promotion in whatever form it takes and the blues have certainly hit a lean spell and the sooner we get out of it the better.

Of course we did miss Daryl Murphy and his physical presence which always provides the opposition with problems but I was disappointed with David McGoldrick again. He is a pale shadow of his former self and perhaps is heart is no longer in it?

Could it be that the ghost of transfer deadline day has come to haunt him once more and I guess if that is so maybe it is time to let him go before its too late!

Deadline day end tomorrow.

Frank Weston – Editor of Vital Ipswich