Dario Gradi praised the contribution of his players as they took Ipswich Town right to the wire this evening in an entertaining cup-tie. The Alex crowd made for a grat cup atmosphere and with a little bit of good fortune it could have been us causing another Carling Cup shock tonight.

After the game, eventually settled by David Norris' 101st minute winner, Dario Gradi told us: "The crowd really seemed to enjoy the game even though we lost. It was a good game against a bigger club than us. You probably wouldn't have thought that, the players did well but it was a game of not many chances.

"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.

"Everyone worked hard, but they need to improve on their quality, especially Clayton and Shaun. We have seen a bit more from Joel. He is putting in the energy now.

"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.

"That is the sort of result you don't want really. I think I would have preferred to have lost in the last few minutes of normal time, but we have to take the opportunities. 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!

"Byron when he came on had a great shot and the two centre halves did well for us again. Matt (Tootle) feels like he has felt something go so we will have to assess that but I don't think he will be ok for Saturday.