Town boss Kieran McKenna felt his players didn’t deserve Fleetwood’s last-gasp equaliser in this evening's 1-1 draw at Portman Road, despite not having played as well as they can.

Cian Hayes’s 96th-minute deflected goal levelled Luke Woolfenden’s second minute opener which looked to have seen the Blues to three points until the dying seconds.

“Could I see it coming? No, not in the context of the game, really,” McKenna reflected. “I thought in the second half we worked ever so hard.

“Of course, we can play much, much better than we played in the second half. On the other hand, there was a grit and a resilience about us to see the game out, we gave away so few chances.

“They had the header from the set play, but other than that I thought we were really resilient and solid and they didn’t look like scoring and it’s a long-range deflected goal, it’s a lucky goal, there’s no two ways about it.

“It wasn’t coming in terms of the flow of the game. In terms of the flow of the season, I think probably a lot of people in the stadium, because we’ve had quite a few things go against us very late in games, that feeling is there until you get some more games over the line to take that away, that’s the only way we can do that.

“I thought the goal was unfortunate and undeserved for the efforts that the players put in.”

He added: “To be honest, if the game had finished on 93 minutes, I would have been saying I really enjoyed it because it was a feisty game, they came to play, they came to compete.

“We played well in bits but in the second half we didn’t play well but we can’t play well for every half of every game this season.

“We’ve spoken about that lots and especially in the situation we’re in at the moment, we’re not going to be perfect, we know that, and we have to be tough and resilient.

“And I thought we were tough, I thought we were resilient, I thought we stood up to the physical challenge and I thought we did enough to earn a gritty win. So, I’m disappointed for the players because I thought they put a lot into the game.”

Regarding former Blues loanee Josh Earl’s celebrations which saw him dismissed for making obscene gestures towards Town supporters, he said: “No interest, to be honest. It doesn’t make any difference to us.

“He doesn’t miss a game [against us], he probably misses a game against rivals of ours. I heard the officials saying that that’s what happened. I’ve no interest in it.”

Town would have gone top had they won with Plymouth losing 2-0 at home to Port Vale to extend their League One winless run to three matches.

However, McKenna says missing out on going first doesn’t concern him at this point in the campaign.

“No, honestly I wouldn’t have felt any different if we’d have won or drew as we did if Plymouth had won or drew,” he insisted.

“It’s a gutting result because of a very fortunate late goal, which has completely changed the narrative and has changed the emotion of everyone associated with Ipswich. But the results of other teams at this stage of the season don’t interest me too much.”

McKenna admitted his team need to take more of their chances at Portman Road having scored only three times in their last four home matches.

“Yes, in this spell of home games we need to score more goals,” he continued. “We’ve had plenty of play, plenty of opportunities, plenty of chances and the return hasn’t been good enough for that.

“We know that, the players know that. People don’t miss on purpose or don’t mess up moments on purpose and we need to keep working to improve.”

Asked whether his side ought to have been awarded a penalty in the closing moments when Kayden Jackson appeared to be fouled, he said: “I haven’t seen it back. At the time it looked like a penalty, it looked like he was in front of the defender and the defender barged in front.

“I have seen the one on Cameron Burgess in the first half and I thought it was ridiculous. He got rugby tackled from behind [by Earl].

“I’m really, really, really reticent to talk about referees but at some stage you’re just hoping that there’s going to be some levelling up because in every game there have been two or three big decisions to be made here and the referees seem reluctant to make them, outside of the general performance of the game.

“I thought we were good for at least one penalty and the theme continues at the moment and probably the only time we’ve had penalties this year was when I spoke about it after Barnsley, so I don’t want to speak about referees but I hope that the case is that things are given without managers having to shout and holler from the sidelines and publicly.”

Fleetwood boss Scott Brown was delighted with his side’s display aside from the opening few minutes.

“I thought the performance was outstanding after the first five minutes,” he said. “It shows the determination of these lads to come back.

“A lot of teams could go 1-0 down here and then with the momentum and their fans, and with the players they’ve got, it could see them go on to score three or four.

“But we’ve managed to go in at half-time and it’s still 1-0. We knew we would get a chance so we had to make sure we stayed in the game.

“Our possession stats are exceptional, against the team with the best in the league, and there were times when we were even able to dictate play.

“It’s a tribute to the lads' fitness levels that they continued to drive forward with belief and they threw everything at it.

“The game plan worked today but we need to make sure we can turn the draws into three points.

“We’ve had a lot of draws this season but this one feels like a win against a fantastic team at a fantastic stadium.”

Photo: TWTD

Deep_Blue added 22:58 - Dec 2 Can't expect to win a match 1-0 when you score in the first minute. Should've killed it off and when you don't, that's what happens. Another opportunity to got top blown thanks to Ipswich Town just repeating the same old sh*t of not being able to see a game out. But we go again next weekend. At least it's only 1 point off top now. COYB!!!
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Bluespeed added 22:59 - Dec 2 Sickening !
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muhrensleftfoot added 23:10 - Dec 2 Frankly that was the poorest I've seen us since McKenna came here. Nevertheless sickening to concede in the last minute. Referee was awful, but despite that, we must start doing better at home. Peterborough up next. A must win game
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itfchorry added 23:13 - Dec 2 With the very greatest of respect- Why did we allow them to dominate the midfield for the best part of the second half ? More points dropped 🥵
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itfchorry added 23:13 - Dec 2 With the very greatest of respect- Why did we allow them to dominate the midfield for the best part of the second half ? More points dropped 🥵
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Help added 23:13 - Dec 2 Unfortunately I disagree with you Kieran. We should have killed the game off in the first half when we were on top and didn't. Second half we were poor created very little and Fleetwood dominated play. Every fan knew they were going to score but clearly you and the players did not.
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pg888 added 23:18 - Dec 2 At what point is McKenna allowed to come out with the same rubbish every time we fail to win at home yet get away with it because he is the messiah?
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Suffolkboy added 23:18 - Dec 2 I shall read the remarks from K M for whom I have the utmost respect ; but it won't do and he knows it ! The headline won't be of his choosing , but effort needs reward and it's not materialising ! It's very certain KM and Co know exactly what they're doing and how to train and motivate ,but if the individuals simply have no special spark nor drive and determination ( for whatever reasons) then the results will become desultory – and too often they are ! Much and many improvements are needed ,and I'm sure K M will be in search ! COYB

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Bert added 23:34 - Dec 2 This is my first ever criticism of our usually always brilliant manager. What the hell were we doing in that second half ? We let them have possession, what were our tactics, why did we sit back ? If Kieron did not see this coming there were plenty tonight at PR who did. Fleetwood took the game to us and undid us. It was not a fluke. We have only ourselves to blame…….. and the atrocious referee who was out of his depth and incompetent.

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naa added 23:47 - Dec 2 I know that we've certainly let a few leads go this season and that's not a great trend but we were 30 seconds away from being top of the table so I think a bit of sanity is required in these comments folks. You'd think we were slipping towards relegation from reading them.
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ArnieM added 23:53 - Dec 2 Same old story I'm afraid Mr McKenna. We are incapable of finishing off our gilt edged chances in matches and ALWAYS get caught by the sucker punch by a team that's had virtually no shots on goal. But, yer, “ we'll learn from this” won't we. Just like we have all Bloody season so far. “Automatic promotion”? ..,,, for a team that can't win their home games? Not a f u king chance in hell!!

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shakytown added 00:19 - Dec 3 PATHETIC!!!!!!
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billlm added 00:29 - Dec 3 Think he's got that all wrong, They deserved the point on their second half showing, Is he running out of ideas we will see, We're not supposed to question him but becoming very repetitive, Home forms killing us,
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JimInGreensboro added 01:03 - Dec 3 Kieran's becoming known as a brilliant strategist but middling tactician.
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Lathers added 01:59 - Dec 3 Excuses will be made, but our home form hasn't been good enough for a team that wants to go up automatically and that stretches back to last season under McKenna. Our lack of killer instinct when we should be in for the kill and our inability to hold on to leads home and away could well end up costing us dearly if it isn't sorted out NOW.
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hyperbrit added 02:09 - Dec 3 ...when a ship keeps running aground blame the bridge not the engine room
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SpiritOfJohn added 07:28 - Dec 3 On the plus side, we are scoring goals from corners. Last season we were terrible in this respect, and now we are carrying a real threat. KM addressed that problem, so well done for that. On the negative side, the fact is we have conceded some late goals that have cost us points and this needs to be addressed now. I am confident that KM will do so. The loss of the experienced Evans and Ball has had an impact regardless of the undoubted ability of Humphreys. In this interview I feel that KM has deliberately tried to focus on the positives. I find it strange that some comments have stressed how they 'know' that we are going to concede a late goal and then question the mentality of the players. It would be great to be 2 or more goals to the good when the board goes up showing how many additional minutes there are to play, but great teams can win 1-0 at home without too much bother. We need to have self-belief in the stands and on the pitch. Thank goodness for the excellent away form!

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Woodbridgian added 08:08 - Dec 3 Kieran You might not of seen it coming,. but i think 22000 other people in the ground could !
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Nomore4 added 08:19 - Dec 3 Well @arnie m we didn't lose. That must be disappointing for you.
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ArnieM added 08:50 - Dec 3 Nomore: you must be bloody joking mate. I'm absolutely gutted that we could potentially blow the best chance of promotion in years simply because we are incapable of beating teams clearly inferior to us . So you can jog on with your jibe mate. You utter f u king tool!
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backwaywhen added 09:00 - Dec 3 Pg888 KM has only just completed his first full year in management, a learning curve that is better than any of our great managers before , he will get criticised and he knows it , but will also learn and correct the wrongs …….. get a grip man !
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chepstowblue added 09:49 - Dec 3 I attend all the away games, but find it difficult to get commentary for the home games. Last night I had no issues. With the BBC website and live text of the game faltering after about 25mins, I located BBC radio Suffolk and spent an hour listening to the names of the Fleetwood players. It sounded terrible. Even the commentator and Mick Mills were resigned to the fact that an equaliser was coming. It felt like that sat on my bed also. I've already cancelled my trip to Greece next may as I fully expect us to be participating in the play offs. That's not a change of heart, I've be saying it all season. We're a good side, but flaky and nothing to be scared of. What's worse is that have a reputation for throwing away leads which overrides any aura that we wrongly think we may have. Our ability to throw points away from winning positions will ultimately cost us this season.Fleetwood got what they deserved last night, as did we. Not often I disagree with this fine young manager but he was way off the mark with his assessment. The efforts of the opposition were there for all to see...and rightly rewarded.

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SickParrot added 09:55 - Dec 3 Fleetwood's actual equaliser may have been very lucky but if KM really didn't see a goal coming he must have been the only one in the ground of that opinion. Fleetwood dominated possession in the second half and the customary late equaliser was absolutely nailed on.
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jas0999 added 10:20 - Dec 3 Can't keep throwing points away. km must find a way to win. Very poor.
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Linkboy13 added 10:26 - Dec 3 Sorry Keiran agree with you most weeks but last night's performance was flat. Again we take the lead and then invite the opposition to equalise. I was pleased to see Kyle Edwards start the game but not on any occasion did i see him take on the full back and what's happened to the blistering pace he had when he joined the club. Possibly the poor performance might be down to not having a competitive game since the away win at Exeter but that would be making excuses. Sam Morsy desperately needs Evans back to add bite to the midfield. Humphreys has done superbly well but is not going to win physical battles in midfield.

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