 Monday, 26th Dec 2011 18:29 Town boss Paul Jewell was delighted with his side’s 1-1 draw at Leicester, believing that they might have taken all three points but for Paul Gallagher’s second-half penalty. Lee Bowyer had put the Blues in front early on after Michael Chopra had missed from the spot. Jewell said: “I thought we worked exceptionally hard. We started the game very brightly, obviously we missed the penalty but we didn’t have time to let that affect us because we scored so soon afterwards. “We had to dig in and defend at times and I actually thought we were going to sneak it 1-0 but the referee gave a penalty. “I’m not sure whether it was a penalty or not, it’s certainly hit Jason’s hands but I don’t know how intentional it was. Towards the final whistle it was end to end.” The Town boss felt it would have been harsh if Konchesky had been red-carded for the foul which led to the penalty: “Not really but what I found a bit difficult to understand was that he didn’t get a yellow card. “I spoke to the fourth official and he said he’d done well to give it after 30 seconds, which made me wonder if they’re not allowed to give penalties in the first minute. “But I didn’t think it was a sending off by any stretch of the imagination, I just found it a bit difficult that we had a couple of yellow cards after that which were given for yellow cards. If it’s a foul in the box, it’s normally a yellow card. But I’m not here to talk about referees, I thought our performance was excellent.” Jewell didn't think Leicester overly threatened his team’s goal despite having most of the ball: “There was plenty of pressure but our keeper’s had one save to make with his feet at the start of the second half. “The only disappointment I’ve got is that we had one or two situations on the break that we didn’t make the most of. But I thought it was two, honest evenly-matches teams. A typical Championship game.” The Blues boss had praise for Damien Delaney, who was back after loanee Danny Collins’s exit having undergone surgery on a foot injury last month: “He played well. He just gave us a little bit of balance on the left-hand side. “None of the centre-halves, Damo, Ãvar or Tommy, have had a lot of football. That was the call I made and I thought he was excellent today. “It was a good point and any point in this league is hard fought. It’s always tinged with disappointment when you’re leading the game, but a point away from home is good and seven points from the last nine is decent form.” One piece of bad news for Town was leading scorer Keith Andrews coming off injured just before the break: “He’s just nicked his hamstring. We won’t know the severity of it until he gets it scanned. “It probably means he’s played the last game of his loan, as far as fitness is concerned. He’s disappointed because he wants to play every minute of every game Keith. We’ll have a better idea tomorrow afternoon. “We want to keep Keith Andrews here and we’re in with a fighting chance of keeping him, that’s what we’re after.” Jewell confirmed that there have been no other changes on contract or transfer front since the end of last week. Town goalscorer Lee Bowyer believed a draw was the right result: "If you weigh up the whole game, a draw was probably fair. "It's just disappointing to have only come away with one point, because apart from the penalty I couldn't see them scoring. "But I think overall we're looking a lot more solid as a unit, we're creating chances and we are going into games with confidence and believing that we can win." Michael Chopra was disappointed to miss the early spotkick, tweeting: "Gutted I missed a penalty, can't believe it. Everyone worked hard again, another point in the bag .Ipswich were great again, thanks for the support." Leicester boss Nigel Pearson felt his team deserved at least the point and was pleased with his players’ reaction to going behind: “Conceding so early was very disappointing but what I would say is that the response from the players after that was very positive. “People have told me that when we’ve gone a goal behind this season the body language and the way we’ve gone about dealing with that hasn’t been very good. “Today I thought the players were very, very positive and I would say that we’ve pressed them, we’ve tried everything we could without being able to break them down in the second half. “There are positives, but it’s still very frustrating that we’re not making inroads into the league.”
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