Ipswich Town column: Mick will be in my line of fire if we get done at Brum

I’ll admit it now: I missed the FA Cup draw — but I’m wondering if Mick McCarthy and Marcus Evans did the same.

It was not a conscious effort on my part, being a new first-time dad there’s plenty of distractions.

As a supporter of the 1978 winners, though, I know what the FA Cup can do for a club, a town, and even a generation.

So I was gutted to miss the drama of the draw as we learned we would host a Premier League team at home, should we win our replay at lower league(s) outfit Portsmouth.

I read somewhere, from another Ipswich scribe, that Pompey Tuesday was ‘an utter waste of time, and we will lose. Guaranteed. It will be slightly embarrassing, but only for about five minutes. It’s not a priority.’

We could surmise their view was on a parallel with Mick McCarthy (expect he’d no doubt add it was an important opportunity for fringe players to impress - cough, cough!).

Can we now expect our team to be given entry into the play-offs...while those not rotating 11 players are slung out?

My view is on a vertical.

I saw a poll on Twitter after the 2-1 defeat which was not the only person suggesting a direct correlation existed between doing well in the cup and not meeting expectations in the league.

So can we now expect our team to be given entry into the golden play-off gate come May while those that did not bow to the league by rotating 11 players are slung out? No.

And more than five minutes have passed when I am having to carry the embarrassment round my person that we will go down in the long history of giant killing acts. Again.

So, after we dropped two points at home to Preston (1-1), we’d better win at Birmingham Saturday (3pm), or Mick’ll be rightly in the line of fire.