Ipswich Town's away draw against already relegated Crewe continued a difficult April, but centre-back Cameron Burgess has his focus set on starting next season strongly.
The game at Gresty Road took a familiar shape for Town after Conor Chaplin scored the opener in first-half injury time. But, for the second game in a row, the Blues couldn't hold on and an 86th minute Tom Lowery equaliser saw the game finish 1-1.
For Burgess, speaking after the game, and his teammates it's another chance to finish the season on a high gone with only the home game against Charlton next week left to play.
Whilst conditions were difficult with a strong breeze and a tricky pitch, Burgess thinks Town should have been able to rise above it.
"Frustrating is probably the answer,” the former Australian U23 international said when asked his feelings on the game.
"We probably need to see the game out in the end and then we weren't able to score a couple of chances. It's one or the other, isn't it? You've got to go and either score a second or see the game out, and we didn't do either in the end. So yeah, a frustrating one.”
Asked about the impact of the windy conditions, he added: "You can see it on their goal. We've got a keeper who can kick the ball the length of the field most games. And the wind just grabs it and takes the ball to basically our right-back area.
"It's not going very far. But it's the same for both teams. The pitch wasn’t great, but same for both teams, although you can say they are maybe used to playing on it a little bit more than we are. But it's the same for both teams, and we're more than good enough to rise above those factors.”
Some areas of the pitch around the sprinklers had appeared under standing water as the match kicked off, leading to an inconsistent surface.
"It seemed like that at the start of the game, the muddy patches seemed to be quite boggy and then there was a couple of nice grass areas over the far side and that sort of changed,” he said.
"It ended up just being quite dry and bobbly, to be honest, but that's not an excuse. We've played on pitches like that before and played well. So it's on ourselves to put it right next week.
"We wanted to send the away supporters home with a good win, the last away game. And it puts a bit more pressure on next week to sort of see the season out on a high.
"We want to do that anyway, but if we can go and put it right next week with a good performance and get three points in front of the home fans, we end the season on a high and go into next season confident.”
On the road, Town have now drawn five of their last seven, winning one and losing one, with most of those drawn matches fixtures they should have won.
"It's just game by game and it's just frustrating that we [couldn't them] into three points,” the 26-year-old continued.
"It's not a factor about away games or anything like that, it's just the way the dice have fallen really. It's just on us to make sure that's not something that we take into next season and start next season strong home and away.”
Burgess was largely a spectator following Kieran McKenna's arrival which meant he didn’t feature under the new boss until 8th March in the 2-0 win against Lincoln following George Edmundson’s injury.
The centre-half hopes that his run of games has done enough to keep his shirt for next season and thinks there have been positives to take from his performances as well as things to learn from.
"Unfortunately over the Christmas period when the boss came in, I ended up with Covid," he explained.
"You take yourself right out of selection and you can't be picked anyway. So I was a little bit on the sidelines and credit to all the lads for doing so well over that period and keeping an incredible run of clean sheets and things like that.
"So it was just biding your time - train well, wait for your chance and when your chance comes, take it. And hopefully, I've had a string of games to show some good things for the next season and then hopefully try and keep my shirt.”
On his recent red card at Shrewsbury, he reflected: "I don't know, maybe just a little bit of naivety, to be honest, being on a yellow card and the intention was there to go and try and block a clearance from the keeper.
"It wasn't malicious. It wasn't anything like that. But obviously, if you go to ground, it probably gives the referee a decision.
"A little bit of naivety and you learn from it, and that's all there is to it. Just maybe a little bit of trying to get the ball back too eagerly, I'd say, but it's something you learn from, and you quickly put it to bed, and you go again.”
Assessing his first season at the club having signed from Accrington Stanley in August, he added: "Probably the same as most of the lads, to be honest. Probably disappointed that we haven't done as well as we know we could have.
"But there's definitely a lot of positives to take from it and definitely a positive outlook for the future. We're going in the right direction now. Everyone's found their feet, everyone's settled and everyone's enjoying life at the club.
"I think that's been clear to see for the most part in the second half of the season and all we can do is carry that into next season and make sure we start next season strong.
"We are where we are and all we can do is make sure we start next year strong. We’ve no excuses of that for next season. The lads know that and we’re all ready to get going for next season and obviously finish this season off strong as well.”