Ipswich Town manager Mick McCarthy leap to the defence of winger Ainsley Maitland-Niles, after he conceded a last minute penalty away to Bolton, allowing them to equalise and earn a draw. Speaking to the BBC, McCarthy said that some of his players pointed the finger at the Arsenal loanee, but felt that was the wrong thing to do.
The former Wolves, Sunderland and Republic of Ireland manager wanted to point out that the whole team must win and lose as a team.
Stephen Dobbie scored seven minutes into added time to complete the comeback for the Trotters, who were 2-0 down at one stage. With only seconds remaining, substitute Maitland-Niles fouled Wellington Silva in the box, handing the hosts the chance to earn an unlikely point, which they took full advantage of.
McCarthy, always one to ‘say it like it is’, said that any player was welcome to punch Maitland-Niles if they wanted to, but need to punch the manager first! He insists that everyone makes mistakes and shouldn’t be punished for it,
“I said to the lads, because they were having a pop at Ainsley: ‘hold on a minute, if any of you haven’t made a mistake you can punch him in the face, and me as well.
Despite dropping two points late on, Ipswich still jumped into a Championship Play-Off place thanks to results elsewhere in the division. Still, he wants the team ethic to remain at the club and feels that any divides in the squad because of one mistake is a big over-exaggeration,
“We all need a bit of love, we all need an arm around us and a cuddle at times. If you make a mistake, you don’t need a kick in the [genitals] as well just to prove it was a mistake.
“Let’s get on with it, because he (Maitland-Niles) put in a great delivery for the goal, and a great delivery for one that Tommy Smith headed wide.”
This weekend the Tractor Boys look to get back to winning ways at home to Cardiff City, who also harbour serious ambitions of making the Play-Offs at the end of the season. They lost 2-0 at home to Leeds United on Tuesday night.
