Ipswich 2-0 Blackburn: Mick McCarthy and Paul Lambert reaction
Wednesday 16 March 2016 07:34, UK
Mick McCarthy heaped praise on Daryl Murphy as the striker celebrated his 33rd birthday with both goals in Ipswich's 2-0 Sky Bet Championship win over Blackburn Rovers.
The Republic of Ireland international scored twice in the second half, the first from the penalty spot, to take his goal tally into double figures for the season.
The win keeps Ipswich on the coattails of the top six, even if the performance didn't always match the ultimately comfortable scoreline.
While Blackburn boss Paul Lambert described his leggy side's performance as "rotten", McCarthy was left delighted after watching his resolute team grind out a vital three points.
The Town boss said: "I thought it was a great victory. It was a tough, hard-fought match which I thought they had the better of at the start.
"But we slowly got into the match and we were deserved winners in the end.
"We have been here before - sometimes you have to stick with it, win the scrap, make sure you don't concede and then you always have a chance."
After seeing his main marksman endure a stop-start campaign after leading the Championship's goalscoring charts last season, McCarthy admitted: "Murph has had it tough this year with a few knocks and niggles.
"But I thought his performance tonight was excellent and his second goal was outstanding."
Blackburn shaded a largely dismal first half which saw the best efforts on goal come from distance.
Murphy tested visiting keeper Jason Steele early on before Bartosz Bialkowski made the save of the night when he tipped Elliott Bennett's teasing, inswinging free-kick over the bar.
The second half continued to be a hard-fought encounter before the deadlock was broken in the 67th minute.
Luke Chambers was bundled over by Hope Akpan as the skipper attempted to meet Freddie Sears' corner and Murphy clinically found the net from the resulting penalty.
Murphy, and Ipswich, doubled their advantage and made the points safe in the 87th minute when the striker latched on to brilliant work by sub Luke Varney to find the bottom corner from the edge of the area.
Blackburn boss Paul Lambert said: "We have played well of late so I am disappointed with tonight. That was our 10th match in 30-odd days so I had to make changes as some of the lads were running on empty.
"A lot of our fans came to watch and they deserved better than what we showed in the second half - we were rotten. I have no complaints about the penalty, it was a stone-waller, but I expected better when we went a goal behind."
