Town boss Kieran McKenna felt his side would have deserved all three points from their 2-2 home draw with West Bromwich Albion, the Blues having twice come from a goal down and having come close to winning it via a late Ali Al-Hamadi shot which was well saved by Baggies keeper Alex Palmer.

The visitors went in front via Tom Fellows on 18 before Nathan Broadhead ended an eight-game goal drought within 44 seconds of the second half getting under way.

Albion sub John Swift restored the Black Country side’s lead before Omari Hutchinson scored Town’s equaliser in an injury time spell in which the Blues threw the kitchen sink at the Baggies with Palmer thwarting Al-Hamadi, the keeper saving the Blues’ sub’s powerful effort on the spin.

“I thought it was a really good game, a great atmosphere,” McKenna said. “Bar a couple of inches at the end we’d have been talking about an absolute classic in terms of games we’ve had at this stadium.

“There were lots of good things about the performance. I thought we deserved the three points, to be honest. Lots of good things about the performance on the ball, but also off the ball plenty of good things.

“Two moments that we didn’t defend well enough, which leads to frustration that we haven’t won the game, another game that we feel that we’ve done enough to win.

“But a lot of pride in the way we played, the effort given, the atmosphere the supporters created and stuck with.

“And going behind twice to West Brom, to put the pressure on that we did, to get a point, to deserve three, I think we can take a lot from that.”

As in their previous two games, the Blues managed more than 20 shots on and off target, while opposition sides have now scored seven goals from seven shots on target in Town’s last three matches in all competitions.

McKenna admitted the Blues would have been fuming had they not grabbed their second leveller.

“Yes, we would,” he said. “To be fair, it’s a little run but I think you could see that in plenty of games we’ve had the better opportunities, better chances, more of them and not given too much away.

“Of course, it’s always frustrating when you don’t get the wins, but it’s always much more concerning if you’re not creating chances and you’re giving away a lot of chances, and that’s not been the case.

“You have spells in the season, there were probably spells earlier in the season where we were extremely clinical and maybe made some big interventions at the other end as well.

“You usually hope and trust that if you’re performances are consistent and you’re creating more than you’r giving away, that you’ll pick up plenty of points.”

Town have now won only once in the league in their last nine, but their performance levels have been better than that suggests with draws with leaders Leicester home and away and a home win against Sunderland in that streak as well as today’s draw with the fifth-placed Baggies.

“In many ways, yes,” McKenna concurred. “We don’t feel like we’re far off winning games, certainly. And we’re not losing many games either, we’ve lost very few.

“Of course we want to win games, but the Championship’s a really tough division, you’re going to have points and stages where you don’t win as many, you can count back in different ways, one in nine, if you count 11 games, it’s three wins in 11.

“We’re drawing too many games that we should win but not losing many. We have to accept that and keep looking to improve, no doubt about it.

“We won’t hide from the areas that we need to do better on that will help us turn good performances into victories.

“But at the same time, we’ll keep focusing on what we do day-to-day and how we perform and trust that over the course of time and over the course of the season that you normally get close to what you deserve, and we still feel like we’re doing a lot of good things as a team.”

Town went behind for the fifth game in a row in all competitions and have conceded 16 goals in the first half an hour of matches and 12 in the first 15, both more than any other side in the division.

“It’s not something we’re ignoring, that’s for sure,” McKenna said when asked about his team’s slow beginning to matches. “I didn’t think we won enough challenges at the start of the game.

“We spoke about it before the game but despite that I didn’t think we won enough challenges. I thought we were still playing pretty well but West Brom came out on top of all the 50/50 balls and on too many occasions when there was a chance to win the ball, we didn’t win it.

“And that didn’t allow us to create the same domination as we have in the later stages.

“Now look, that’s a lot of different factors, there are two teams on the pitch, West Brom have excellent players, our players are still at full stretch to compete at this level, to be fair.

“And you’re not going to have the whole 90 minutes. We won’t hide and shy away from the fact that we need to find ways to consistently impose ourselves on the game at the start.

“But on the other hand, we have to respect the level that we’re playing at and the competition that we’re up against and also take a big positive that the players fully believe in the fact that if we stick to our plan, if we stick to how we play over the course of 90 minutes, then usually we’re still going strong at the end and the other team are really with the feeling that they’ve been in a really, really difficult game.

“And I think that was the case today, certainly by the latter stages we were coming out on top of all those things.

“That’s not just a defensive issue, it’s how we’ve worked the opposition so hard and so well with the ball that there’s a fatigue element in that.

“We’ll speak about it again before Wednesday night [when Town travel to Millwall], there are a couple of things in my mind that we will try and address.

“But at the same time, we respect the level that we’re operating in, you’re not going to have the whole 90 minutes and we’ve had more than enough of that 90 minutes today to win the game.”

McKenna was asked whether he expects the Baggies, who came close to becoming only the second side to double the Blues this season, to take points off their promotion rivals between now and the end of the campaign.

“They can take points off anyone,” he reflected. “They’re a really tough team to play against and, as I said yesterday, they’re probably the best team in the league to defend a one-goal lead, so to be in that situation twice and to come back in the way that we did, there’s a lot of positives in that.”

It was notable that a number of West Brom’s players crashed to the turf exhausted at the final whistle.

“They’re physically a really good team but the players really believe that if we can get the game at the intensity that we want it and if we can impose ourselves in the game, then we’ll still be going strong in the later stages of games and other teams will be tired, and that’s down to how we work,” McKenna continued.

“I know they’re a really fit team who work hard as well, so the energy levels that we had at the end, the impact of the substitutes again, that’s something that we can take big positives from.”

The Blues boss was asked why central defender Cameron Burgess, who came back from international duty with Australia at the Asian Cup earlier in the week, was left out of the matchday 20.

“He’s only just returned, has been training not to much and been on the bench for most of the game in a completely different climate, so not easy to come back into a game in the intensity of today,” the Northern Irishman said.

“And I think George [Edmundson] has been playing really well, to be honest, he’s been one of our best players and I thought he was one of the best players again today.

“That’s a good position to be in now with the squad and everyone’s going to have to earn and keep earning their places in the team.”

Photo: TWTD

Len_Brennan added 08:44 - Feb 11 I don't understand how Pencilpete had 4 people mark him down for a comment that was 100% accurate & undeniably so; you may not like to hear (see) it, but it is the unfortunately the truth : "opposition sides have now scored seven goals from seven shots on target in Town’s last three matches in all competitions" - fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me a third time ... well that doesn't even need to have itself a saying! It's on us & the chances that are given up if all of them are being scored, and that includes some poor defending even around the goals that should have been disallowed. I also have a slight issue with the argument that playing out from the back at all times, even when under a very strong press, is the thing to do because that is what has brought us our success. Of course there is truth in saying that the bravery of our play in taking it out from the back, often through Hladky, has resulted in many excellent moves & goals, and I'm not for 1 minutes suggesting we don't continue to do so to a significant degree, but it doesn't take into account the evolution of opposing teams in how they now set up against us tactically. We caught other teams cold over the first few months of the season, as a newly promoted side with largely the same starting XI we had in League 1. Teams underestimated us & came out to play 'toe to toe' football against us, believing they had the players to beat us, by just playing their own game. Even after our great start, they mostly felt that we would naturally fall away; but apart from Leeds, nobody had the sheer quality to just go at us & come out on the right side of the result. It was the more defensive, cautious sides like Rotherham & Huddersfield, who set up to nullify us, that actually caused trouble & took points off us back then. But West Brom away was really the first time that one of the 'better' sides did a number on us & set up to aggressively target our defensive/midfield players, giving them little to no time on the ball, & studying their moves/twists when trying to get out of trouble. It was effective, & since then far more sides have gone into games against us with the game plan of hitting us with an aggresive press early on, targetting particular players at the back, having analysed their likely movements or favourite ball to play when under pressure. We're not going to change our core principles of course, but we will continue to see this model for how to play us for the rest of the season, where some teams will hope to catch us out early on & then sit back, hoping to catch us on the break for a second goal. We just have to vary it a bit, being somewhat less risky when in possession around our own box with a man on, & in balls played through the middle, particularly during the opening 20 minutes when they are fresh. The arrival of Kieffer Moore as an outlet will help with that - and no, I'm not advocating that we turn into a Wimbledonesque longball side, just that we vary it enough to make a lot of the opposition's energy sapping pressing a costly waste of time.

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Bazza8564 added 09:14 - Feb 11 Good post Len, you nailed it. What frustrates me about some of our fans though is the lack of appreciation of why we do what we do at the back. WBA came with 5-6 first half yesterday and people expect us to just hump it over them. But in my opinion, playing short and sucking those pressing players even closer is very effective. We saw 3-4 occasions first half yesterday when we played back and forth the Vas and then chipped a ball into Moore and Burns, and we won those duels and set up attacks against even numbers at worst. I don't get why people can't see the logic in drawing people on to you and then bypassing them, and yes, even if that out ball ends up being a high or floated one. For me, and I don't profess to be an expert, we've got up a division and into the top echelons of it by creating space because we do "tittle tattle" around with it a lot, and we tempt sides on to us. Have we been caught out once or twice? Yes we have, and possibly the chipped ball over the press (not blasted Cooper style) hasn't bene used enough, but now we have a proper CF again the balance will shift

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Irishblueboy99 added 09:26 - Feb 11 I think we need George and Cameron at the back, marina is playing better than burns and would love see two up front, al hamadi and kieffer and give Conor a rest
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Irishblueboy99 added 09:26 - Feb 11 I think we need George and Cameron at the back, marina is playing better than burns and would love see two up front, al hamadi and kieffer and give Conor a rest
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FreddySteady added 11:38 - Feb 11 Blown it AGAIN Pablo123?
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barrystedmunds added 12:56 - Feb 11 It’s worth remembering that this is KMcKs first managerial appointment. Like all of us starting out he ain’t going to get everything right all of the time. But compare him and what he’s brought to our club with what’s gone before (certainly the last 6 full time guys) and the evidence is clear to see.
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MickMillsTash added 15:49 - Feb 11 Its a long time since we scored the first goal of the game in the league and against the better teams that means we will probably not win. Maybe keeping it a little tighter in the first 20-25 would not be a disaster - the first goal doesn't happen if Clarke doesn't change his mind - Ok lots to be done after Fellows gets the ball and Wolfie should stop it but we are conceding far to many break away goals and not scoring them. Not complaints about McKenna - the team if often outperforming its collective ability - and with a run of games coming up that feels simpler I'm optimistic about results improving

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Wooly74 added 22:51 - Feb 11 Pablo123 - season ticket holder and probably been to more games before you were born than you have even been too, so jog on pal!
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ChrisFelix added 11:11 - Feb 12 A lot of comments about the amount of goals we are conceding. I know it's a tougher league than Div 1 , but last season we had one of the best defensive records if not the best. Difference maybe the goal keeper
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ArnieM added 14:25 - Feb 12 Some good observations Len. I think we also need to accept and acknowledge that this is a learning curve for McKenna as well as the squad : we’re not doing too bad tbh. The squad is a mix of league one and step up championship players. Some are not good enough but try. Ya yo ally we have been sussed and it’s up to us to adapt . The biggest mistake McK can make is to refuse to tween, adapt or mix up our approach. Teams do press us hard and for as long as their fitness level allow , which is why we often have a much better second half in games as we bring on pacy players with an ability to unlock tiring defences. One of notable things I’ve picked up on ( mostly against the better teams), is our inability to match the pace of these teams during the transition phase : we get caught out time and time again. Our defence is our weak point. The central defenders are by and large league one level and it shows. Buts that’s a project in hand for the summer I’m sure. I do wonder if Axel is not capable physically of managing a run of games in a month which might be why we’re not seeing him. Fully fit, he’s PL standard, but he’s here for a reason isn’t he! Let’s hope he gets a run of games to show what he can do … if he can manage it physically then we release him in the summer.

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Linkboy13 added 15:51 - Feb 12 We took a gamble on Tuanzebe hoping he might get fit but it's not worked out his back problem seems to be permanent so he won't be here next season. Ipswich teams that have won trophies have always had outstanding centre backs with leadership qualities it's probably the most important area of the team at the moment that's missing in the team.
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finidi added 19:51 - Feb 12 "Another game when we feel we have done enough to win" Firstly there are no givens or freebies firstly you have to win the battles and earn the right to win. KMC ,you must abandon the loyalty to pick certain players let's give Hutchinson Sariemento Travis El Hamedi a go now too many off form Burns Chaplin Broadhead Clark Woolfenden. We are still in a great position and have some easier games on paper but they have got to be won. Mick Mills called it right after the game when he said Davis has to sit a bit deeper first half and not look to bonb on so much.

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