Three former Celtic centre-half’s were in happy mood after watching their Championship sides pick up seven points last night with a loan Celt and former Celt on the scoresheet.
Mick McCarthy was grateful for Daryl Murphy’s late clincher in the 3-1 win over Nottingham Forest, Scott McDonald scored twice to help Middlesbrough to a 3-0 win over Huddersfield while Malky Mackay’s Cardiff took a point at Derby to remain at the top of the table.
After being told that Ipswich had lifted themselves out of the relegation places McCarthy was in no mood to get carried away.
“Unless I’ve woken up and it’s 4 May, I’m not bothered,” the former Ireland boss answered. “We’ll all get a kick from seeing it but we’ve got tough games coming up, so we’ve got to maintain that level of performance and make sure we stay out of it.
“There’s no time for patting each other on the back or stroking each other’s egos. I enjoyed it and we played well, but now we’ve got to play like that every week.”
With four points collected from two tough away games at Burnley and Derby Mackay is delighted with the character shown by his Cardiff players.
“We’ve been up in Yorkshire and Derbyshire and picked up four points out of six with a real patched-up group,” he explained.
“We really ended up quite threadbare tonight, but I’m very proud of the group. We stay top and we stay top scorers in the division as well, which is important.
“We were playing a good team here, a team that have only lost once at home and have won their last three games (at Pride Park) and scored nine goals, so it was always going to be a tough game.
Former outcast Scott McDonald was singled out for praise after the role he played in Middlesbrough’s 3-0 win over Huddersfield to take Mowbray’s side into third place.
“He’s come back into the fray the last couple of months and he’s done exceptionally well for us,” the Boro boss admitted. I think what he brings as well as his goals is his work ethic from the front,” said Mowbray.
“People can talk about the goals and think ‘he must have played well’ and yet the coach’s eye and hopefully the player’s eye sees the unselfish work that Scott does for the team.”
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