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Parr: Draw Felt More Like a Defeat - Ipswich Town News

Goalscorer Jonny Parr admitted that Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Nottingham Forest initially felt more like a defeat with ex-Town midfielder Liam Trotter hitting an equaliser five minutes into injury time.

However, he says once the disappointment of conceding the late goal is put to one side, the result will seem like a decent away point and the performance an improvement on recent displays.

"Yes, it felt more like a defeat,” the Norwegian reflected. "It’s always horrible to conceded a goal that late. And it was.

"It was very disappointing but I think when we get home and get the disappointment out of the way we will see that it was a good away performance and good away point.

"I think we looked a bit more like ourselves, working hard for each other and getting back to what we’re best at and hopefully we’ll get those three points next game.

"I think we were back to what we want to do today and we know we will pick up a lot of three points if we play like we did in parts of the game.”

Manager Mick McCarthy said keeper Dean Gerken was "sat with his head in his hands” after the match but refused to apportion blame for Forest’s last-gasp goal.

Parr says the players were similarly not pointing fingers: "I don’t think anyone’s blaming anyone. We work hard together as a team and I haven’t even seen the goal, I’m not quite sure what happened, I was in there as well and ended up on the floor and they got a shot saved on the line and then got the goal.

"There’s no point in blaming anyone. Everyone does their best, tries to do their best for the team but we just didn’t manage to keep a clean sheet in the last minute today.”

He added: "For 95 minutes we kept a clean sheet and usually that’s enough. It’s not often there are more than five minutes added on.

"I think that when we get settled and get home we’ll think back and feel we were on the right track and we’re getting back to what we want to do and in the end it’s a good away point.”

Regarding his first goal of the season, Parr said: "It’s a bit strange feeling like this after a scoring a goal like that because it’s not often I score goals.

"It was really nice, right foot on the half-volley, I just placed into the top corner. I was pleased with that one, it’s not often I get those opportunities. It’s really good to get a goal to help the team and I’m happy with that.

"I used to play as a striker until I was 18 but now I’m a left-back. But I still remember a couple of things!”

Parr replaced Jonas Knudsen in the 12th minute, the Dane having suffered a hamstring problem.

The extent of Knudsen’s injury isn’t yet known but his absence could give Parr a run in his preferred role at left-back for the first time since joining the Blues following his release by Crystal Palace in the summer of 2014.

"It’s never funny when people get injured, it’s part of the game and you just have to be ready if you get your chance," he said.

"I felt that I was ready and took my chance today and hopefully I’ll get more. I’m ready, so if I get some games at left-back that’ll be great for me.”

Looking ahead to the back-to-back home games against Cardiff and then Bolton, he added: "We want six points from those two games, that’s our goal.”

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