Ipswich 2-1 Leeds: Mick McCarthy and Steve Evans reaction
Tuesday 12 January 2016 23:44, UK
Mick McCarthy has hailed Ipswich's 2-1 comeback win over Leeds in the Sky Bet Championship on Tuesday evening as one of their best performances of the season.
Souleymane Doukara scored the quickest goal of the season in any of England's top-four divisions, catching the hosts cold after 12 seconds following a mistake by Jonathan Douglas.
However, Ipswich reacted well and finally got the goals their dominance deserved, with skipper Luke Chambers' second-half equaliser followed by an injury-time winner from substitute Brett Pitman.
"It was a bonkers start but a magnificent end," Ipswich boss McCarthy said. "It was a really good game and I thought we thoroughly deserved to win.
"Leeds obviously started well and they were the better team for the first 15 minutes, but after that we were different class and created enough chances to win two matches.
"My half-time talk was calm and calculated. I thought we had been excellent and I knew the chances would keep coming and if we scored one, we would score another.
"But it wasn't just about winning, it was about our all-round performance. We were excellent tonight - that's as well as we have played."
McCarthy was right to pour praise on his Ipswich side, who are now unbeaten in five and have leapfrogged Brighton into fifth place in the Championship.
In contrast, Leeds have slipped to 15th in the table, with Pitman's late goal leaving manager Steve Evans understandably frustrated.
"We had a perfect start scoring in the first minute but their two goals came from two crosses when we switched off," he said. "They were two poor goals.
"I can't fault the efforts of my players, though the referee will be getting a low mark - I thought he was absolute garbage.
"Ipswich are a benchmark for us, but I don't think they deserved the win. In spells, they were disjointed and just as bad as we were.
"It demonstrated to me that we need to bring some more quality into the football club and we are trying to do that."
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