Town boss Kieran McKenna was in no doubt that his side should have been awarded a last-gasp penalty in their 1-1 draw with Leicester City at Portman Road, dismissing referee John Busby’s explanation that he didn’t see Hamza Choudhury’s foul on Cedric Kipre as “not good enough”.

Having found themselves behind to Patson Daka’s 39th-minute goal having been under-par before the break, the Blues dominated the second and levelled through sub Sindre Walle Egeli in the 76th minute.

Town, who had had earlier penalty calls waved away by referee Busby when Ivan Azon and more convincingly Anis Mehmeti felt they were fouled, maintained the pressure into injury time and in the fifth and final minute of time added on Kipre was hauled down by Choudhury as he looked to get on a Dara O’Shea cross from the right.

“I think it’s clear, that’s the feeling in the stadium and in the dressing room,” McKenna said when asked whether he believed his side should have been awarded the late spot-kick. “I don’t want to start with the referee but that’s the first question, I wouldn’t have started with that because there were other things to the game.

“I loved how we chased the game in the second half, I thought we had at least two clear penalties, a clear penalty on Anis and the one on Cedric at the end, it’s crazy for me that it’s not given. It couldn’t be any more clear, there’s nowhere else you can look.

“Dara puts an incredible ball into the six-yard box, that’s the only place that all the officials have to look and Cedric gets fouled in every way you can get fouled.

“It’s really frustrating because I really, really liked the way we chased the game. We should have a clear penalty to go and win the game.

“It’s the same referee when there was the same situation against Preston when we should have had a clear penalty to win the game [Jack Clarke having been fouled and then a Lilywhites player handling in the box moments later], but today was even much worse and even more clear.

“We’re really frustrated by that and we should have had two penalties, but we should have had in whatever minute Cedric’s was a kick to win the game and our supporters would be going home, I think, really proud of the second-half performance of the team. The spirit and the character the group showed again, and what would have been very likely a comeback victory.”

Asked whether referee Busby, who is becoming something of a bete noire for Town supporters, had given him an explanation, McKenna added: “He said he didn’t see it after the game. For me, it’s not good enough, is it? There’s nowhere else to look when the cross comes in from really wide, so as soon as it’s crossed the only place to look is at what’s going on in the penalty box. Of course, we take his word that he didn’t see it, but I don’t know how you can’t.”

McKenna rarely approaches referees at the whistle but did so on this occasion and says Busby pulled him to one side to outline his position on the incident.

“He was pulling me over for a chat on the side just to get away from the bodies,” the Blues manager continued. “There was no aggression between myself and the referee on that.

“Of course, there was frustration, but we pulled away from the bodies because there were a lot of people around and he explained that he didn’t see the incident. That’s all that was.”

Fans and players also felt the free-kick which led to the Leicester goal was harshly awarded but McKenna wouldn’t be drawn on that decision: “I won’t focus on the referee on that one. We still should defend the set play.”

Reflecting on the game overall, he said: “We didn’t execute as well as we could have in the first half. I thought the spaces were there for us, but we just weren’t as clean and as precise in some moments.

“Our build-up wasn’t maybe quite as good as it has been because there were one, sometimes two spare men there and we didn’t progress the ball through the pitch with as much confidence as we have been or execute quite as well as we could.

“But that can happen, especially when you have as many games as we have at the moment — you’re not going to play well in every half.

“The biggest frustration probably is that we don’t go in at 0-0 because we didn’t have loads of pressure against us or anything like that, so a set play from that far out, as much as it’s a great finish by the Leicester player, it was disappointing from us to concede that and not just go in at half-time and know that we could push on in the second half.

“We know we weren’t at our very best in that half, but the second half I thought was really good and we showed against a Leicester team full of quality, who we’ve been neck and neck with in terms of leagues and position over the last few years, that we’re in a pretty good spot.

“Our intensity, our quality, our understanding of how to chase the game and the resilience the players showed.

“We’re frustrated but we also have to make sure we see the progress because we know that’s a situation we struggled with a little bit at the start of the season.

“I said it even after the Preston game, but certainly in the last couple of games here, I think we’ve shown great growth in that and really it should have been rewarded with more points than it has.”

Walle Egeli’s goal, his fourth for the club, came at a time when McKenna was bringing on all his attacking options.

“That’s important when you chase the game and Leicester are hanging on for the result and defending narrow and deep,” he added. “You have to use your crosses and get bodies in there.

“We tried to bring on as many attacking subs as we could and we know Sindre’s got quality in the box if things fall to him and he took it well.”

Photo: TWTD