Out Of The Carling Cup, Dario Reacts

Goals weren't quite as easy to come by last night as they were against Barnet and, despite a rousing performance, Ipswich eventually ended our Carling Cup participation for another year.

Having knocked out a full strength Derby in the last round, there was only Roy Keane on the touchline to fear last night and we took them all the way. Whilst Ipswich's Championship credentials showed through for the large part, the Alex managed to match them enough to keep score at 0-0.

It was only 10 minutes into extra time that David Norris' fierce shot put Ipswich ahead and ultimately through in the competition after Luke Murphy failed to clear a corner sufficiently.

There were chances for the Alex, especially in the first half, and it is to our credit that Roy Keane was prising his goalkeeper Brian Murphy post-match, but it was not to be. We can not be too disappointed, as long as Ipswich do not draw a glamour away tie in the third round. At least it's not three points dropped!

Meanwhile, Dario praised the side's resilience having kept Ipswich out for over 100 minutes. The record of four goals conceded in five matches is not looking too shabby when you consider we've faced two decent Championship outfits.

Dario via www.crewealex.net;

'Both teams found it hard to break each other down in the end. I think we had the best chance of the game in the first half with Clayton Donaldson. He had a good chance in the second half as well actually. If he had put one of those in then who knows? That is the way it can go in tight games.

'We have been hard to beat and we looked that again tonight. There is improvement in them all and it is up to us all to strive to get that out of them.

'We made extra time and I said to the boys that they had made it a good night, but can we make it a great night. I fancied us at penalties though, I was looking forward to penalties!

'We are heading in the right direction, we've shown again that we are hard to beat and we have a good set of decent players so we have scope for improvement.'

And now to see how much that has taken out of the players for the trip to Lincoln this coming Saturday.

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