Boss Kieran McKenna felt there were nine positives for everything the Blues could improve upon in the Cheltenham game, despite Town having been held to a frustrating 1-1 draw by the Robins.

The Blues recorded 29 shots, had 75 per cent of the possession and 15 corners, but had only Luke Woolfenden’s eighth-minute goal to show for their domination, while Ryan Broom levelled with a very rare Cheltenham chance in the 34th minute.

“We always look back at the game and we watched it back as a group and with units this week on little things to do better,” McKenna said.

“But in general there were nine positives for everything that we could improve in the game, to be honest.

“We had so many chances and even on the chances, quite a lot of the time we did the right thing.

“Marcus [Harness] has hit the underside of the bar, for example, [Panutche Camara] the inside of the post, the goalkeeper made some really good saves and I think our play in and out of possession and on set pieces was good.

“Of course, we need to do better with the goal [we conceded] and that’s an area we’ve spoken about, how we can improve our concentration when we’re so dominant in games.

“But having said that, the other team are going to have a chance at some point in the game.

“We’ve looked at the game back, picked out all the positives and will try and do those again this week. Although again, it won’t be easy and there are areas we can improve and we’ve looked at this as well.”

McKenna was encouraged by the number of opportunities which were created even if they weren’t taken.

“I think that’s always the case,” he reflected. “As long as you’re creating opportunities and not giving too many for the opponent and you feel like you’re in a good direction and your performances are good as a team.

“Sometimes the goals go in and sometimes they don’t, and sometimes the opposition score with very few chances.

“There will be another day where our goalkeeper and our defenders will make blocks and they’ll miss some chances.

“So I think the main focus always has to be on the quality of the performance and creating as much as you can and giving away as little as you can.”

Town will feel they’ve dropped four points from the last two League One games, having been 4-2 in front in injury time at Charlton before the Addicks’ remarkable comeback to draw 4-4.

McKenna believes it’s important to keep a level head in these circumstances and not look to overreact to a couple of disappointing results.

“I think it’s about perspective, really,” he said. “You can look at the Charlton game and say it’s a really frustrating result, but actually it was a draw away to Charlton, who have had the best home record, I think, maybe up until that week in the league. And we played very well and should have won the game.

“So who knows, maybe at the end do the season it will be a good point. The Cheltenham game we wanted to win and we did almost everything to win the game. And for a number of different reasons, it didn’t manage to go our way.

“Luck, finishing at times and certainly refereeing comes into that, and there are a lot of factors whether the ball crosses the line or not. Football is a low-scoring sport and there are no guarantees, and it’s the same for everyone.

“Peterborough conceded two goals in the last five minutes last week against Exeter [the Grecians winning 3-2]. Ipswich aren’t the only team facing the realities of football and the beauty of football.

“I think we’re pretty good at keeping things in perspective here and knowing that if we perform well and to the best of our capabilities and try and create as many chances as we can and don’t give up too many, then we’ll give ourselves a better chance to win games. But even when you do that, it’s again a sport of no guarantees.”

Photo: TWTD

Suffolkboy added 12:22 - Nov 18 Such a well reasoned and balanced approach ,with virtually unassailable deductions and no histrionics ! Frustrations from a supporters point of view do not go unappreciated but his regular perspective is always sanguine . Good man ! COYB
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NthQldITFC added 12:22 - Nov 18 Absolutely bang on. COYB.
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IpswichToon added 13:20 - Nov 18 Nobody can say we aren't an entertaining team to watch. Despite one or two frustrating games, it's such a long way from the football we got accustom to under MM. There's no better man for the job than this Enniskillen lad!
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Linkboy13 added 17:13 - Nov 18 It's amazing to think that the average home gates have doubled compared to the Mick McCarthy reign which were around 12,500. Even when the results have been disappointing the entertainment value has been very good.
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ArnieM added 05:08 - Nov 19 “Sometimes the goals go in and sometimes they don't, and sometimes the opposition score with very few chances”. …and this is the key thing for me. We have such high possession rates, that teams invariably don't get much chance to test our defence. So we “look” good defensively, yet as soon as we are actually tested, we look very vulnerable to me. I'd say our defence is bang average, and positively weak as nuts in dealing with balls into our box. So, we need a striker and two defenders in my book.

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