McKenna: Disappointed Not to Go On to Win But No Complaints With Draw Saturday, 14th Jan 2023 18:45 Town boss Kieran McKenna didn’t have too many complaints that the Blues’ 1-1 draw with League One leaders Plymouth Argyle ended level, even if the Northern Irishman was disappointed that his side hadn't gone on to win the game having gone a goal in front via Wes Burns. Bali Mamba’s wickedly deflected injury-time equaliser claimed a point for the Pilgrims, who remain seven points ahead of the Blues having played a game more than Town and second-placed Sheffield Wednesday, who are four points in front of McKenna’s men. Asked whether what had been an entertaining game between two well-matched sides, was a great advert for League One football, McKenna said that wasn’t his main concern. “I’m not too interested in advertising anything at the moment,” he said. “It was a fantastic advert for the football club in terms of the support and the passion of the people of Ipswich to get behind the team, to get behind the club. “We’re so grateful for that, it was one of the best atmospheres I’ve seen in an English football ground, I don’t think there will have been many better atmospheres anywhere today. “And it made for a really intense game, two good teams going toe-to-toe and a really intense game and, of course, we’re disappointed that we didn’t go and win it from being in the position that we were so late in the game. “But we will learn from the experience. It was such a big game even for our experienced players, but certainly for our less experienced ones to play in. Probably the biggest crowd, the best atmosphere that maybe the large majority on the pitch have played under and they’ll learn and be stronger for that. “We’re disappointed at the moment but there’s a long way to go in the season and if we manage our emotions correctly then we’ll be stronger for the experience today.”" Was a draw the right result? “I don’t think we can have too many complaints, to be fair. Both teams had chances and both teams will feel like they deserved to get something out of the game. “At 1-0 up, I don’t think Plymouth did a lot for the equaliser, if I’m honest. It wasn’t like we were defending a barrage of shots and crosses and chances and pressure, they had maybe only one shot in the 20, 25 minutes that we had the lead. “And it takes a big deflection and loops up into the top corner. In that way, I think we can say that there was some fortune to the goal, but the only thing I’m interested in is the bits that we can do better, and we can definitely do better in defending that situation. “We wanted to win the game. In reality it was also important not to lose it because that would have been a huge boost for a difficult opponent. “We have to take the point and we have to look forward and move onto the next game.” Town have conceded late levellers in a number of games this season and have dropped 15 points from winning positions. Quizzed on why he believes that’s the case, McKenna said: “We’ll keep reflecting on it. We’ve done it different ways. We’ve tried to be really aggressive on the front foot at times when we’ve been defending a lead or when we are in the ascendency and we’ve conceded late goals. “Today, we were defending more on shape. It wasn’t easy to get as much pressure high up the pitch as we wanted to in that phase whenever Plymouth changed shape, but at the same time we were there, we were defending our box and you have to be able to do that in elements of the game. “I think it’s rarely one thing, it’s a combination of things. We need to be able to defend our box better late in the game and do the elements that we need to - stay out of the box, squeeze the line higher when we’re defending the box. “We had a couple of chances to build counter-attacks from poor crosses that they attempted into the box and we were a bit tense and we hacked our clearances and that allowed the pressure to come again. We can do that better. “And then we can defend the situation better when they play a really clever ball into our box. Our blocking could be better, the way we get down the line of shots, the way that we get to the ball so that we don’t get unlucky with deflections. “There are details there that we can improve. But there’s also an element of fortune to the goal. I don’t think you can hide away from that, but that’s not something that we can control, so we’ll work very hard next week on the bits that we can control.” Regarding the seven-point gap to the Pilgrims with the Blues having a game in hand, he added: “All to play for, lots of football. It’s a really tough division this year as it was last year, some good teams. I think everyone has seen our quality and what we can do as a team. “Plymouth showed their quality as well. Both clubs have strong teams, both clubs had strong benches, they had really good substitutes to bring on as well and there’s a lot of football to be played between now and May 6th. “We’ll keep fighting. I’ve got every faith in the players and the attitude and they way they’ll work on it. “I loved the atmosphere in the stadium, the positivity, the energy, that’s exactly everything we can need and ask for, and we need to stay in that manner. “If we keep pushing in that way, we’ll be strong and stronger as a football club and the players will get stronger and stronger for that. “Twenty games to go, hopefully lots more big games and atmospheres like there was at Portman Road and we’ll keep pushing and I’m really confident that if we give the same energy as a football club that we did today, we’re going to get to where we want to get to in the end.” Centre-half Luke Woolfenden showed composure to lay the ball off to Wes Burns for the Welshman’s goal but McKenna highlighted the 24-year-old’s defensive display. “I’ve not seen it back yet,” he said of the goal. “I thought he was excellent the whole game, to be fair. Plymouth were really direct, I think they paid respect to our pressure. I thought their centre-halves just looked to go in behind every time and they’ve got two good forwards at that, [Ryan] Hardie and [Niall] Ennis are a threat in behind and are a handful. “We tried to be brave and get pressure on the ball but they were trying to smash it in behind every time and doing it very well, so it was a big challenge for Woolfenden and Burge today and they stood up to it well. “On the flipside, they were really brave in terms of how they defended us. They marked us man to man in huge spaces and we had big opportunities and spaces to attack as well. “Both teams defended in a brave manner and both sets of defenders deserve some credit for how they managed to keep it down to one goal for the opposition.”" The Blues boss was pleased with the impact new loan addition George Hirst made from the bench in the second half. “I though he gave us really good energy and threat,” he said. “I thought Freddie [Ladapo] did really well as well, to be fair, I thought it was a real battle between him and [Dan] Scarr and he gave us a good platform to play off. “George came on with fresh legs and gave us another threat as well, so it was good to have him going out on the pitch and it gives us a really good player for the second half of the year.” McKenna explained why fellow new signing Nathan Broadhead was left out of the 18 following his £1.5 million move from Everton early in the week. “He’s got some tightness in his leg muscles,” he said. “He’s a really important investment for us. Of course, we an immediate impact from him and George [Hirst] and the other players that we’ve brought in, but he’s also a short, medium and long-term investment for the club, so we need to ensure that we protect him in the right way. “He’s had a really bit week, travelled from North Wales a couple of times, new bed, all of those situations, so it’s not uncommon for him to have some tightness. “We have to make sure that we manage him in the right way so we can build his robustness and get him on the pitch feeling really, really good because we know if we can do that then we’ve got a really good player on our hands, so we have to make sure that we do that with the right timing and not looking at it in too short-sighted a manner.”
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