MICK McCARTHY admits Ipswich Town can forget about an automatic promotion position if they lose to promotion rivals Middlesbrough tomorrow lunchtime.

Ipswich head to the Riverside five points adrift of their opponents after last weekend’s 1-1 draw with Brentford followed hot on the heels of defeats to Norwich and Leeds.

After tomorrow’s action, the teams involved in the Championship promotion battle will have just nine more games to play, and McCarthy accepts his side cannot afford to lose any more ground as they attempt to force their way back into the top two.

“We can affect things at the top, or we could end up right out of it,” said the former Sunderland manager. “That’s the picture we’ve got in front of us at the moment, and our focus is to make sure we stay in the hunt. We do that by making sure we don’t get beaten and get something out of the games.

“Look, if we lost (at Middlesbrough) and there are two teams eight points in front of us, then we’re not going to be top two. We’re not going to win three more games than the teams at the top. I doubt that very much.

“That would take a huge effort and is unlikely, so it’s important that we stay in the pack and get back in the top six. And we’ll keep thinking about the top two until it’s impossible.”

Ipswich welcome midfielders Kevin Bru and Stephen Hunt back into their squad for tomorrow’s game, but David McGoldrick, Darren Ambrose and Noel Hunt all miss out because of injury.

Millwall loanee Richard Chaplow has been a key part of Ipswich’s ongoing promotion push, and is expected to start tomorrow lunchtime with McCarthy confident a change in management at the New Den will not affect the midfielder’s availability for the rest of the campaign.

“We’ve signed him until after the play-offs,” he said. “They didn’t ask (for a recall clause).”