Town boss Kieran McKenna felt there were plenty of positives to be taken from his side’s performance, particularly in the first half, despite the Blues being held to a 0-0 draw by Watford at Portman Road.

The goalless draw, Town’s third of the season, saw McKenna’s side move back to second in the table but miss out on a chance to return to top spot.

“I think the first half was a really good performance against a dangerous Watford side,” he said. “We controlled them to next to nothing really in terms of their chances and we had a couple of really big moments.

“It was difficult to create chances, they defended really deep, really compact, they’ve got three big centre-halves back in the penalty box, so it was difficult in that context to create a huge number of big chances.

“But in the first half we created a couple of what would have been really, really good goals for us and it just wasn’t our night in terms of them going in the back of our net.

“I think first half, we would more than deserved to go in with a lead. We didn’t manage to get it.

“Second half, we didn’t manage to create as much as we would have wanted or build as much pressure as we would have wanted.

“We have to respect the opponent, they’re always going to have a spell in the game, they had a spell of possession, but having said that, we still gave away very few chances.

“We defended well, controlled them to very little and managed to build some pressure in the last 10 or 15 minutes but again, credit to their organisation and motivation to defend their box so deep and with so many bodies, they made it very difficult for us to create.

“We take the positives from the performance, we take the big positive of the clean sheet and, of course, we take the point which are all hard-fought in the Championship, especially this time of the season.”

Perhaps the biggest of those big moments was Watford keeper Daniel Bachmann’s stop from Kieffer Moore’s header.

“A great save and it would have been a great goal, really,” McKenna reflected. “We had some really good moves in the first half that were close and that would have been, not a perfect goal, but how we were going to create against that low block today, that probably would have been as good as it could have got.

“Similar the one that Jack [Taylor] walks onto that probably doesn’t even go down as a big chance but we worked it really well with Kayden [Jackson] and Omari [Hutchinson].

“Kayden cuts it back perfect to Jack and he has a free shot from the penalty spot and the shot just happens to smack off Nathan Broadhead.

“Sometimes you have days like that where it just doesn’t go your way. We’ve had plenty of days where it has, so over the course of the season, you just have to keep doing the right things and we did plenty of good things tonight.”

Jackson and Taylor were two of four changes along with George Edmundson and Harry Clarke, replacing Conor Chaplin, Massimo Luongo, Luke Woolfenden and Axel Tuanzebe in the XI.

“We knew going into this spell there were going to be five games in 15 days, really difficult games,” the Blues boss continued. “All the games have gone to the last second, today again has gone to the last second.

“It’s important to be able to freshen up the team and show the trust in everyone and I thought the boys who came into the team did a good job. We’ll have another fresh look at it for Saturday.

“The boys came in and did really well, I thought. Kayden and Omari and Harry Clarke’s link-up on the right-hand side in the first half was excellent.

“Jack gave us some good things on the ball as well and George came in the team and, like he has done every time he’s come in this season, he was really solid and performed really well.

“It was a shame George went off with the injury at the end, it probably robbed us of maybe one more attacking substitution that we would have liked to have been able to make, which is a big part of us chasing the game down late on. We weren’t able to do that, we had to use it on a centre-half.

“We’ve got a great record of late goals but at the same time we’re in a busy run of games, the opposition found the motivation to defend their goal with a lot of bodies, nine, 10, 11 players in the 20, 30 yards in front of the goal and in that situation it’s hard to create big, big chances and sometimes you’re relying on putting pressure on and the ball falling your way and it didn’t quite seem to fall our way tonight.

“It has done on plenty of other occasions, I don’t think we can complain too much, we just have to take the positives.”

Regarding Edmundson’s injury, he said: “He’s rolled his ankle. He walked in to the dressing room, so that’s a positive, so hopefully that’s not going to be anything major. Same one as he injured last season? I don’t know.”

Last night saw leaders Leicester beaten 1-0 at Millwall and Leeds draw 0-0 at home to Sunderland with tonight’s result moving the Blues ahead of the Whites by a point and behind the Foxes, who have a game in hand, on goal difference.

But McKenna says not too much attention was paid to those results or what’s become a very edgy end to the automatic promotion race with Town having just four matches remaining.

“I just focus on ourselves, I think you could see in the performance in the first half,” he said. “I thought we played with no tension, no worries, no difference about the stage of the season.

“I thought it was a really good performance, it didn’t look like it was the 41st game or the 14th game or whatever, we were just playing as us, and that’s what we wanted to do.

“We managed to do that for a good chunk of the game. It shows the mindset of the players, where we’re at.

“We’re just trying to perform as well as we can. We know we won’t do it every game but we’ll look to do the same on Saturday [when Middlesbrough visit], we’ll look to do as well as we can, focus on ourselves.

“Of course, pick up as many points as we can. There are not too many league games left, so we’ll see where we’re at.”

As things stand, Town’s fate is in their own hands. Win all four games and they’re up, but McKenna isn’t thinking that way.

“We’re not thinking about anyone’s destiny, to be honest,” he insisted. “Norwich are a strong side with really good players, Watford are a strong side with really good players. We want to win every game, we try and win every game, but we can never take that for granted.

“We still have to keep the perspective that we played that first half tonight against a strong Watford team with some players still from their Premier League squad, a deep and high quality squad and we’ve really, really dominated large aspects of that game.

“Our focus is just on the next game. Every game is really hard fought, every point is hard won. We’ve had to fight really hard tonight and we know it’s going to take a helluva an effort and a helluva performance to get anything from Saturday as well.

“That’s where our focus is really, not on anyone else or the table, it’s just on trying to get ready for the next game. It certainly takes that for this group in this division, and they’ve done that really well.”

Photo: TWTD

bobble added 23:31 - Apr 10 happy enough, as we are still in the position 21 teams want
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itfcskayman added 00:01 - Apr 11 After the Leicester and Leeds results a draw isn’t a complete disaster. Still leaves it in our hands. Boro at home is an absolute must win game, quickly followed by a well needed break.
5

Granthamblue62 added 01:35 - Apr 11 Its seems churlish to be critical after such an amazing season. However, we appear completely spent and running on empty. My concern is that we appear to be running out of steam at a time when we absolutely need to be on top form. Sadly, I think we will fall short and end up playing them lot in the play-offs. Absolute nightmare scenario!
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Saxonblue74 added 06:37 - Apr 11 I watched the Leicester game and some of the Leeds game on Tuesday night, we're all in the same boat whereby we need to get through to the scheduled break with as little damage as possible to recharge after a recently exhausting fixture list. It's a long, hard season and 5 games in 15 days takes its toll. Win at all cost on Saturday and we're sitting pretty. Just one thing Kieran, don't say "helluva", Lambert used to do that....a lot!!

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Len_Brennan added 07:00 - Apr 11 There's no doubt that all 3 sides are looking a bit edgy now, and more 'expected' points will be dropped by all before the season ends. Beating Southampton was a massive result, as they are not out of it yet, & would be right in the mix had they managed to win that game. But as the manager always says, we can't be wasting our energy looking at the table too much & the results of other teams; we have to concentrate on our own games/performances & get as many wins as we can. Automatic promotion is still in our hands. Having said that, our last 2 games have felt a bit flat & jaded, scoreless in both, and lacking somewhat in that second half attacking flurry that has been the hallmark of our season; that sense that we will always come back & score a winner in the last few minutes, even if we've gone behind. The Middlesborough game is massive now; I had felt that we would need to get 6 points from these 2 home games, as the next 2 are away at Hull & Coventry, which will be a real challenge. I think we'll have to get a minimum of 6 points from those 3 games now for automatic promotion; so a draw, even an apparent 'good away draw' is not going to be enough, unless we win the other 2 imo. I really hope it doesn't come down to goal differnce in the end.

3

ArnieM added 07:06 - Apr 11 I think this is the first time I’ve witnessed KMcK deviate from his normal patient build up from the back to one of an earlier long ball. The changes in defence were IMHO clearly aimed at managing Watfords fast raiding threats. We potentially sacrificed all 3 points with this approach because our execution of the longer direct approach was as slick (because we rarely do it), but the Watford GK can take a lot of credit for keeping it to 0-0 . You can add our own Hldaky to that with his works class last ditch save in injury time: what an injustice there would have been had Watford stole all 3 points with that shot! I do wonder where we’d be if we’d adopted last nights approach in the Leeds away fixture and against the scum. We move on. If we can win Saturday then I’d say 4 points from 6 would be good against the teams played. COYBs

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ArnieM added 07:11 - Apr 11 Granthambkue: I agree we look a spent force. But having watched both Leicester and Leeds, so do, do they. And remember their players are used to a much shorter season in the PL. I think we lost the wow impact from our usual subs last night, because they were playing the full 90mins…. While the normal 1st teamers were being rested on the bench. To bring out subs on, on 69 odd mins is also an indicator that the players are running on empty. The fans really do need to step up to the plate even more now and continue being vocal even though we are all bricking it. “ Running towards adversity”!

1

Dissboyitfc added 07:48 - Apr 11 With 3 cb’s who coped comfortably with virtually every high ball into the box, we kept pumping high balls into the box!
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Stato added 08:00 - Apr 11 You leave your leading goal scorer on the bench and then don't score. Hopefully that mistake won't be repeated again this season
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terryf added 08:04 - Apr 11 A golden opportunity missed! Lets be honest since the Blackburn game we have not been at our best. Last night against Watford's low block we created a few decent chances first half but our final execution wasn't quite good enough. Second half when I thought we might move up a gear there was no real quality. Apart from Omari who was a class apart the others were not at their best. Still we have to remain positive and with four games remaining we are in a better position than 22 other Teams! Roll on saturday!

2

jonnysuave added 08:14 - Apr 11 The change in style to suit Moore's potential threat doesn't seem to be working. The long ball has been creeping in the last few matches and Moore, as hard as he tries, seems relatively easy to defend against when the oppo pack in 3 large CB's. Shock the opposition, start with Al Hamidi next match and bring on Moore when they are all knackered from chasing our forward pack

5

virginblue added 08:36 - Apr 11 Moaning about leaving Chappers on the bench is comedy. Omari was comfortably our best player.
6

JewellintheTown added 08:46 - Apr 11 KMc notes from last night read: "Homework for all the lads - write out 1000 lines of "I must not shoot at the goalkeeper in the hope he dives out of the way".
4

Europablue added 08:49 - Apr 11 The only problem was the finishing in the first half then we were flat in the second half.
2

SussexTractor added 08:54 - Apr 11 Omari and Leif are both premier league quality.
2

ArnieM added 09:10 - Apr 11 DaveU: what was the issue with my 2nd post, for your down arrow? Just curious as appear to offer no opinion of your own.:
1

OliveR16 added 09:18 - Apr 11 I probably get paid a year what Kieran gets paid a week but I think I've spotted a flaw in the reasoning here. With five games to go in a season, there was no need to 'take the positives from the performance'. All that was necessary was to take the points. Several 'performers' will be returning to their clubs shortly, so it's fine to now have four bad performances and 12 points, thank you.

0

Carberry added 09:22 - Apr 11 How many points do you get for 'taking the positives'?
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tractorboy2421 added 10:58 - Apr 11 I know the other teams around us didn't do to good either so maybe a draw wasn't so bad, the thing that worries me the most is we end up in the playoffs ... we definitely don't need that... boro is a must .. then we can carry on with the winning spirit ..hopefully
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Lightningboy added 10:58 - Apr 11 To criticize is laughable...yes the last couple of results have been disappointing & the last couple of months has been a bit patchy but what these guys have achieved over the last 2+ years is beyond anything i've certainly imagined. Whatever happens - and missing out on promotion won't be the end of the world - I just hope we can keep hold of Kieran and become an even better team next season.

4

NorthLondonBlue2 added 11:22 - Apr 11 I watched the whole of the second half on Sky, and saw the first half in the highlights. So, although I didn’t get the whole picture, I think McKenna played it right last night. We were within a whisker or two of scoring in the first half and just couldn’t breakdown a Watford side determined to play for a draw. That their closest effort came from a shot on the half-way-line in the dying seconds says it all, really. Nobody said this would be easy; and everyone was right! Keep the faith - we go again!

1

blues1 added 15:29 - Apr 11 The usual stupid comments on here. Where does anyone think we dont build up the way weve done all season? Yet fans are at the same time moaning our play is too slow? Yes, we alternate at times by playing the ball up to Moore, which makes sense. But 80-90% of termtime we're still building from the back. Those saying Chaplin should have started? Where have you been the past couple of months? He's done very little for a while now. And dint when he came on last night. Plus he's carrying a slight back issue. And omari was mom last night? So what's the argument there? Keepxjearimg thst we're jaded? Well if that's the case, how come we were able to dominate the last 20 minutes of the game, wrestling the control back from Watford, whod been very good for 20-25 minutes of that 2nd half. Thst takes energy, to be able to do that. As for the daft comments suggesting we shouldn't take any positives from the game? Typical negative fans saying that. Oh, and anyone believing that was a shot at the end? Was clearly just trying to clear the ball as far away as possible to prevent us have ing one last attack. And almost got lucky. Fortunately hladky made a great save to keep it out.

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Bazza8564 added 17:25 - Apr 11 Sadly people forget this side were playing in league one last season, bar Omari who was playing under 18s and Kieffer wasn't playing at all. We've done absolutely brilliant this season, competing and dominating for long periods against sides who haven't been as low as L1 for decades. Time for a bit of realism. This side needs another 2-3 windows before being "finished" for Championship level, and yet here we are on the verge of the PL. Realism please, it's come way earlier than planned so well done boss!

1

Carberry added 20:19 - Apr 11 Oh, blues1, if only we could all see things as simply as you.
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