Town boss Mick McCarthy felt his side had had more than enough opportunities to beat fellow play-off challengers Brentford at Portman Road. In the end the Blues manager had to settle for a 1-1 draw.
"We had enough chances to win the game comfortably but we didn’t take them and that’s the price you pay," McCarthy said
"It’s frustrating but I was delighted with the way we played. Brentford are a good side and at the end of it we had to make sure we didn’t lose the game.
"We always set off wanting to win but I’ll take the point and we’ll keep pecking away at all of the others and keep trying to get enough points to get us at least in the play-offs.”
The Blues boss was impressed with the Bees: "Brentford have left three up at corners, it’s risk versus reward. We scored from it because we had a good delivery and we got the goal.
"There was a threat there constantly on the break and I think they play some good football and Mark’s got a good team.”
The Blues played their midweek game a day later than Brentford and didn’t arrive back from Leeds until the early hours of Thursday morning.
"I think against a really good team who move the ball about well and make you work, I think the shift that the lads have put in was terrific,” McCarthy added.
"It was half-three when we got back to the training ground on Thursday morning. No, I was in my bed at half-three, we got back at a quarter-past three. I didn’t hang around, I just took my trainers off and climbed straight into bed with my tracksuit on.
"The alarm went at seven o’clock. It was a microwave sleep. They’re just remarkable, the players, how they’ve gone about their jobs.
"Day in, day out, week in, week out and I can’t applaud them enough. To have recovered as quickly as they have and to have played as well as they have, I think it deserves some merit.”
The most glaring of several second half misses was Daryl Murphy’s just after the break.
"I’m sure he’ll have nightmares about it as everybody’s asking me about it and he’ll be reading it, seeing it, hearing it. I don’t think he needs that!” McCarthy said.
"He has been remarkable this season, he’s scored unlikely goals and then he’s missed one that he’d never really miss. But that’s football, that’s just the way it is.
"I’ve just ruffled his hair and said ‘Come on, now go and score the winner at Middlesbrough, that’s all you can do'. There’s nothing we can do about that now.”
The Town boss was particularly impressed with Jonny Parr’s performance in midfield: "Absolutely, I thought he was our man of the match, I would have thought, he’d be up there. I thought he was excellent.”
McCarthy agreed that Brentford keeper David Button was the Bees’ man of the match: "He did make some good saves.
"Somebody just asked me if I’m disappointed and I said that I’m not, I’m more frustrated that we haven’t won because I was delighted with the performance, not disappointed with the performance. And if we continue to play like that we’ll get more good results than we will bad ones.”
Elsewhere, some of the teams above the Blues also dropped points: "The league’s bonkers, it’s always the same.
"Derby have drawn in the 94th minute, Middlesbrough have lost. Maybe we should be worried about the ones pecking beneath us rather than the ones above us.
"Wolves got a draw against Watford. It’s the way it is. It’s going to be right to the very last game, last minute.”
Asked whether he was disappointed that Town dropped two points at home, he said: "I hate to state the obvious but it is two points dropped.
"But there were chances at both ends, Pritchard got in in the 93rd minute running through the middle and we got a block on it.
"Lose it and we miss out on something by a point, whether it’s the play-offs, it might be a point gained. Maybe that’s the reason why I’m still doing this job because I tend to look on the positive side of it rather than the negative.”
Brentford manager Mark Warburton thought his team got better as the match progressed.
"Everyone’s saying we’re thankful to get the points, I’m not sure I saw that game, I’ve got to be honest,” he said.
"I thought Ipswich started really hard and fast at the start at both halves. We knew that. We went too long at the start of the game, got embroiled in that and Ipswich were by far the stronger team from the outset.
"But once we conceded, we reacted really well and got the equaliser. I thought we moved the football, we looked very comfortable and as the game went on I thought we were getting stronger and stronger.”