The problem with missions, as any superhero worth his salt would testify, is, as soon as one has reached a successful conclusion, there invariably seems to be an even tougher one to take its place. Their 18-year-old debutant goalkeeper, Ben Alnwick, kept them in the contest early on, before Marcus Stewart and Steve Caldwell’s goals cancelled out Alan Maybury’s strike.For a club which, only two years ago, fell through the Premiership trapdoor with the lowest number of points ever, paralysed by debt, and whose own supporters were so disillusioned with the demise that less than half renewed their season tickets, promotion represents a remarkable achievement.”I was tainted by those games at the end of the Premiership,” McCarthy reflected, in the afterglow of an achievement he described as his biggest in the game. The 30-year-old, the only player for whom Ipswich have paid a fee post-administration, could have made a name for himself on the ground where his uncle, Tony Currie, paraded his sublime skills for Leeds in the late 1970s.Darren’s touch may not be quite in Tony’s class but is usually good enough from eight yards. On this occasion, however, the execution was poor and the ball trickled wide.

“Not even to hit the target from there has left me gutted,” he said. “It’s two points gone.”Goals: Kuqi (11) 0-1; Spring (12) 1-1.Leeds United (4-4-2): Sullivan; Kelly, Carlisle, Kilgallon, Gray; Richardson (King, 89), Spring, Gregan, Einarsson (Walton, 67; Wright, 69); Hulse, Moore. Substitutes not used: Pugh, Lennon.Ipswich Town (4-3-3): Price; Wilnis, Naylor, De Vos, Unsworth (Diallo, 63); Miller, Magilton, Horlock (Westlake, 55); Bent, Counago (Currie, 71), Kuqi. It has happened too often.”Currie’s miss came in stoppage time.

“The reason we score so many goals is that we have so many forward-thinking players but when the opposition get the ball we have a number who don’t think it is in their contracts to get the bloody thing back.”Darren Currie missed a great chance at the end, but the real disappointment was to give a goal away so soon after we had scored. They are the Championship’s top scorers but Spring’s equaliser, coming only a minute after Shefki Kuqi had given Ipswich the lead, was the 54th goal they have conceded, compared with 40 by Sunderland and only 33 by Wigan.”Our strengths become our negatives at times,” Royle said. And that irked Royle as much as his side scoring only once.The goals against column has been their Achilles’ heel. But Royle would reason that the threat of relegation is just as galvanising as the chance of promotion and therefore neither has an advantage.Except that Wigan, with a considerably superior goal difference, are two points better off. “It means we need six points to have a chance and they need four to be certain, and I know which position I’d rather be in,” Royle said.Leeds defended magnificently at times, the centre-backs Clarke Carlisle and Matthew Kilgallon particularly strong, but created little apart from Matthew Spring’s goal.

He did the hard part by chasing the ball down as Nash fumbled, but he shot too close to the goalkeeper.Nugent, from Cresswell’s pass, finished with ease from 20 yards out but 19 minutes later Hayles combined with Dichio and this time managed to beat Nash.Goals: Sweeney (8) 1-0; Nugent (58) 1-1; Hayles (77) 2-1.Millwall (4-4-2): Marshall (Stack, 24); Phillips, Lawrence, D Ward, Muscat; Sweeney (Ifill, 45), Elliott, Morris (Wise, 68), Livermore; Hayles, Dichio. He turned and struck a superb shot past Edwin van der Sar on 17 minutes after Volz’s mistake had presented Didier Drogba with the ball. Fulham’s resistance lasted past half-time after Boa Morte’s through ball found Collins John, who poked the ball in after Ricardo Carvalho inexplicably failed to make a tackle.Mourinho may not have done much more than remind his players of the importance of the occasion but they responded with Lampard’s goal on 64 minutes and a neat finish by Gudjohnsen with three minutes left.The old men of 1955 represent a proud episode for Chelsea but those kind of sepia memories can also impose a burden of expectation that needs to be shifted eventually. On the 50th anniversary of the first Chelsea title, Mourinho reminded his team of the new century that they have an opportunity to move the club’s history on at last.”To win the championship after 50 years is very big,” Mourinho said. “After 50 years the fans have not forgotten and they will not forget this year either Whether it is the players, the staff, the managers, whoever. Roy Bentley is rightly remembered as the captain of that team and so too will John Terry this time.