Town boss Kieran McKenna felt the Blues should have been awarded two more penalties during their 1-1 draw with Preston North End at Portman Road.

The Lilywhites went ahead through Lewis Gibson on 72, but top scorer Jack Clarke claimed a point for Town from the spot two minutes into injury time to take his tally for the season to 12, four of them penalties, more than anyone else in the Championship.

However, the former Sunderland man, who had been fouled for that spot-kick, was shoved over again before the end, which manager McKenna thought ought to have resulted in referee John Busby awarding another penalty, as should an incident moments afterwards.

Asked whether he believed his side should have been given another penalty, McKenna said: “I think we should have had another two, to be honest. The second one, the shove on Jack Clarke as he comes into the box, someone comes in and crashes into him from behind is a clear pen.

“And for me, the one that came back to Jack Clarke and he tried to pop it round the corner to Chuba [Akpom] in the box, the midfielder’s there with his arm out and moves his arm towards the ball and knocks it away from Chuba, and the referee’s 10 yards away and staring straight at it.

“A lot at the end of that game, there were two bits to the game. I take big, big, big positives in our reaction to going 1-0 down and the way that we pushed for the equaliser.

“For me, what the players showed out there today, what the crowd showed when they stuck together in that adversity, for me it was a comeback win. We spoke about that this week and our need to react better to going 1-0 down.

“I thought today the reaction was outstanding on the pitch and in the stands, and I’m disappointed that it didn’t end up with getting a win.

“I thought the players gave everything to get that, but we have to take the positives from the point.”

It wasn’t the first time the Blues have struggled to break down a team defending in depth, the Lancastrians having put in a similar display as they ground out a 1-0 victory over Town at Deepdale in August.

“I think the context of the game was clear,” McKenna continued. “It’s difficult, it doesn’t matter if it’s at Portman Road today or it’s at Anfield, if it’s at Arsenal, if a team comes and defends really, really deep with a strong back five, putting an extra midfielder into the team.

“They did a really good job, it’s not a criticism, they came with a game plan, defended really, really deep, had a good threat with [Daniel] Jebbison, you know they’re going to be a threat on their set plays, then it’s a big, big challenge and it’s hard.

“It’s hard for the players and hard for the crowd because they want to see an open, exciting game but it’s probably not going to be that.

“If you get the early goal, then possibly it might open up, but if you don’t it’s going to be difficult.

“We didn’t pass that test today, that’s the reality. I think we did some good things in the first half, had some good situations, weren’t quite clinical enough. Also missed some moments to get the extra body in the box or to get across people in the box to go and get the goal.

“But they also had a counter-threat through the game. We didn’t quite manage to ever get on top of that, their striker [Jebbison] running down the channels.

“And then the real frustration was to concede from the set play because we’ve spoken a lot this year about giving ourselves 90-plus minutes to win the game and I think in that game, as much as you want to go for it and you’re thinking a lot about how we break the defence down, it’s really important to keep the clean sheet and then give yourself the whole game to win it.

“So we’re really frustrated to concede the set play. I think there’s a lot that we can take from that part of the game. Of course, it’s not new but just because you’ve been through it before, it doesn’t mean that you can reflect on it and then you’re going to be perfect, it’s a work in progress.

“I think we have made some good strides against deep teams, against back fives who defend really deep in the box. We didn’t manage to execute well enough today or control their threat as well as we would have liked, but we’ll reflect on that and the only thing to do on that is keep working to improve.”

The Blues boss was pleased with Anis Mehmeti’s performance on his full debut for the club.

“I thought he was a positive,” the Northern Irishman added. “It’s never easy coming into a new team and the context of a game like that as well is not easy because there’s certainly not loads of space for you to operate.

“But some really good moments. A lovely pass for Jack Clarke in the first half, lovely pass for George Hirst in the second half, maybe two of our clearest chances.

“I thought his counter-pressure was really, really good as well and he’s going to bring us good things, and I’m sure he’ll only improve as well.”

McKenna says striker Ivan Azon was subbed at half-time as he was feeling unwell: “He had a really back headache.”

Regarding forward Sammie Szmodics, a target of Derby and Wrexham, being left out of the squad, he added: “There’s not too much change from what we said yesterday. There’s been some offers, nothing that the club sees as acceptable. If that doesn’t change, he’ll be here come Tuesday.

“But we thought in light of that and a few other things, it was better to go with the other players today.”

Photo: TWTD