Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna admitted his side did not do enough to deserve a victory in the goalless home draw with lowly QPR but explained it had been a difficult build-up with both illness and injury in the camp.
He was forced into making five of the six changes to the side which that took to the field with Nathan Broadhead initially down to start but withdrawn after the warm-up, having been vomiting with a bug which had also struck down Wes Burns. In addition to the illness and injuries, skipper Sam Morsy was suspended.
The result from a disjointed display from the depleted team saw the Blues' advantage over third-placed Southampton in the Sky Bet Championship table cut to three points, while leaders Leicester City are now eight clear.
"I didn't think it was a very good match or general performance or general atmosphere,” said McKenna.
"Of course it was a really difficult build-up to the match right up to the two minutes before kick-off when Nathan Broadhead's vomiting in the dressing room.
"That's a few more players now with the same vomiting bug and probably a couple more to come to be honest.
"So it was a difficult build-up, it wasn't a great game. Of course there are a lot of factors behind that, it's the third game in six days after a massive effort.
"The players are humans and I thought the effort levels, especially in the second half were excellent and we tried really, really hard.
"We had some chances to win the game and didn't give up any chances in open play really. One header from a set play, we gave nothing away, had a couple of chances to win it but didn't do quite enough in the performance to win the game.”
On the illness and injury list he confirmed Leif Davis has a calf strain. "We'll assess it day by day," he said, "we don't know how long it's going to take.
"Wes Burns is very ill with the virus that's within the camp. Nathan Broadhead, again was vomiting in the warm-up with probably the same virus. A couple of staff members were the same.”
He added: "Harry Clarke's got an ongoing achilles issue that needs to be managed and had a lot of pain after the other night so was limited in the minutes he could do tonight.”
Asked if the drop in performance level, albeit with changed personnel without the same match sharpness, concerned him, he said: "No, of course we could have played better. My feet are firmly rooted in reality, we're playing against a QPR team with much more Championship experience and more established Championship team than us with an awful lot of changes to be made to the team in one go and not a lot of those were optional.
"So it was always going to be a difficult game. If anyone was coming here tonight thinking we'll turn up here and batter QPR in the third game in six days with the quality they have in their side and our line-up - of course that's what we aim for in every game and we've done incredible to achieve quite a lot of victories this year - but that's not the reality.
"It's humans, professional footballers doing their best in the third game in six days, some who haven't played in a long time, all at the same time against another good team.
"We didn't perform as well as we would have liked or produced a game for the supporters we would have liked but that's the reality of football.”
Striker Gerrard Buabo, 18, came on for his league debut in the 88th minute and McKenna said that was among the plus points to draw from the night. Yes, real positive.
"Look, Cameron Humphreys getting his first start was well deserved and really important and I thought he got stronger as the game went on and delivered a really good second half performance.
"I'm delighted for Gerrard, he's had a real difficult 2023 really with a repeated hamstring injury he's had.
"He's a player that we liked a lot when we first saw him and he's missed almost 12 months of football.
"Look, even Gerrard, to be honest, medically to play five minutes plus extra time tonight was a stretch. He's not fully back yet, so that's as many minutes as we could really get him on the pitch for, still keeping it safe.
"And I thought he had a good impact, he's got a great presence, great profile, great kid, wants to learn and the boys really take to him.
"Hopefully that was a good way to finish a difficult year for him and hopefully he'll have more luck and some good things next year.”
Asked how the delay at half-time for a medical emergency in the crowd affected things, with kick-off delayed by 20 minutes with a six-minute warm-up, he replied: "No, it was fine. I don't think it impacted the game really. Our thoughts are just fully with the family and the people concerned.
"I don't think it had an impact on the game, it was handed as well as possible I thought by the officials.”
The Blues return to action on New Year's Day at 19th-placed Stoke City (3pm).