Boss Roy Keane was happy with a point after Town’s 1-1 draw with West Brom, despite conceding yet another injury time goal. The Blues manager thought the visitors deserved their equaliser, but was pleased with his side’s battling display.
Keane said: "As much as people might think I'm angry and disappointed to lose the goal at the end, I'm not.
"I don't begrudge West Brom their equaliser. They caused us lots of problems but my players were outstanding and it was a good response to the Southampton defeat. They showed a real desire and a great spirit and I thought it was a cracking game.
"We had chances to have finished them off but that will come. It's the sign of the progress we are making that we can hold a team as good as West Brom, but it's a sign of how far we have to go as well.
"When I was driving to the game I knew that we would have to defend well if we were going to have a chance and they did that.
"A blind man could see that West Brom have a very good chance of winning promotion.
"They play very good football and move the ball well and we knew that, but in terms of clear-cut chances we had the better ones.
"We are nearly a good team but we all know nearly never made it. Are we short in certain areas? You bet we are. But we are improving all the time and they gave it their all tonight."
Keane says his players told him that referee Stuart Attwell had warned Jonas Olsson about manhandling players in the penalty area prior to awarding the Blues their second half spotkick: "The lads were saying that he had been warned before. Olsson likes to make a challenge in the box and he only has himself to blame."
West Brom manager Roberto Di Matteo saw things differently: "We are very angry about it because that decision has cost is dearly. Unfortunately the referee's decision has gone against us.
"I don't think anyone else in the stadium thought it was a penalty. It looks like the ref was the only one who saw any contact for a penalty.
"I had a word with the fourth official and he was just shaking his head. There was a bit of contact but nothing else.
"That was a key moment in the game because out of nothing he thought he saw something. It doesn't make sense to speak to the referee. The game is over now and there nothing else we can do about it.
"We kept going until the end and that shows we've got good energy there to last the 90 minutes for our third game in eight days.
"It took a lot out of us - and credit to the players for keeping knocking on the door. At least we got an equaliser.
"The only negative point is that we had the chances but didn't manage to score the goals. We created a number of good chances and one was saved off the line as well.
"We needed to take one to put us ahead. We knew as the game went on we would have more chances too. But if you have to play against the referee as well that's very difficult."