McCarthy denies intent in celebration, has a dig at Norwich

Ian Watson

Ipswich manager Mick McCarthy denies he swore and directed an offensive gesture towards the travelling fans while celebrating their late goal in the  the East Anglian derby at Carrow Road.

Town looked set to taste victory in the fixture for the first time since 2009 when skipper Luke Chambers headed home from Martyn Waghorn’s corner with just two minutes of normal time remaining.

But with five minutes of stoppage-time almost up Grant Hanley got to the ball before Town goalkeeper Biatosz Bialkowski close to the byline and produced a perfect cross for defensive colleague Timm Klose to head home and spark scenes of jubilation amongst the home fans.

Ipswich boss McCarthy had received criticism for his decision to substitute the impressive Dominic Iorfa late on, with the goal coming shortly after the switch. He also denies any aggressive intent in his celebrations after Chambers’ goal.

“It was nothing like that,” he said. “It was just the emotion of the game taking over – I was just celebrating the goal.

“It was very straightforward with Dominic, he was cramping up so I took him off. I was just doing my job, which I happen to think I do particularly well.”

As for the game itself, he added: “I thought we played very well but we just let our guard down in the 95th minute.

“In the first half I thought we attacked and defended well and in the second half we worked really hard, got our blocks in and got our goal near the end. I would say we did our job well for 95 minutes, but unfortunately we couldn’t see it out.”

The point kept Ipswich above Norwich in mid-table and McCarthy added: “If I had had £300million to spend over the last few seasons I think I could have them (Norwich) languishing in 13th place in the Championship, to be honest.”