Town boss Kieran McKenna admitted he had left a devastated and frustrated dressing room following the 3-3 draw at Stoke City, the Potters having grabbed a last-gasp leveller via a contentious penalty, both with the decision and after being unable to see out what would have been their first comeback victory in almost 23 months.

Having been 2-0 down at half-time after a disastrous spell just before the break, the Blues hit back to lead 3-2 until the 96th minute when Cedric Kipre was adjudged to have fouled Lamine Cisse and Milan Smit netted his second goal of the game from the spot.

Referee Thomas Kirk awarding the penalty seemed all the more harsh after Town were denied a penalty at the same stage of the 1-1 draw with Leicester when Kipre was fouled, a decision referees’ body the PGMOL admitted was one of two spot-kicks the Blues should have been given.

“We’re certainly on the upside-down bit of the roller-coaster at the moment,” McKenna said ruefully.

“There’s nothing other than a devastated dressing room, a really frustrated dressing room, really frustrated with our role in the last minute and the fact that we didn’t manage to game-manage and show the composure we needed.

“Really frustrated with the decision. For me, a really soft penalty. Of course, from an Ipswich persuasion, I don’t quite know the word for the irony that the level of contact Cedric’s put on a shoulder there compared to what happened in the 96th minute on Saturday that we came out on the wrong side of.

“We’re really unhappy with how that’s panned out, and other than that there’s so many ways to dissect the game.

“Of course, there were things in the first half we didn’t do well enough, we didn’t handle well enough. We made a couple of mistakes. We hit the inside of the post to go 1-0 up, so it could have been really different, but we went in at half-time in a difficult spot.

“The group showed outstanding character and quality in the second half, the supporters were outstanding in terms of the backing of them and I think deserved to get into a winning position, and we’re all just devastated at the moment that we didn’t manage to get it over the line.”

Regarding going two behind ahead of the break, McKenna added: “The first goal, we look for a foul on [Ivan Azon] on the halfway line that may or may not have been, but we didn’t react quickly enough after that to read the danger and to deal with [Million] Manhoef down the side of the box. So we’re not happy with how quickly reacted and dealt with that situation.

“And the second goal is a mistake which you don’t want, but any player can make a mistake and what you can say is that Jack [Taylor]’s reaction to that in terms of the mistake and losing the ball in that situation was absolutely fantastic in the second half.

“The way he came out from the first minute of the second half, how he drove the team forward, scored an outstanding goal, I think the character he showed tonight typified the character that the group showed in adversity.

“Of course, we don’t want to be in that situation, it was a difficult first half, the conditions were really, really difficult for a good football match, but I think the reaction was shown was a big positive.”

McKenna says the manner in which his side attacked the second half was a positive to be taken from what overall was a disappointing evening.

“It doesn’t feel like it at the moment but I think to be in that situation, and we know the story and it’s a fair thing, with this group we haven’t had a comeback win yet and I’ve been saying for a few weeks that we’re getting really close,” he continued.

“And to come back in the second half, showing the intensity, the quality and the resilience we did is a really good thing for the group. We’ve not had the reward tonight or we’ve not got the reward over the line tonight, but it’s still for a group of players who are going through quite a lot of stuff for a first time, that’s a really good step forward.

“Where that takes us, who knows, but I think it could have gone in a really different direction tonight and the fact that they rallied around each other and produced that in the second half, is a really positive thing.”

Quizzed on whether his half-time team-talk centred around restoring his players’ composure and getting them back out there with the right mindset, McKenna added: “It certainly felt like we needed half-time at that point just to get in and get together.

“The first half could have panned out really, really differently, but the way that it was at the end of the first half, we probably needed that pause to regroup.

“And really, it was about coming out and we knew that we’d be under a fair bit of scrutiny in that second half and whether we could get points out of the game or not, we were in a lot of adversity and really it was about coming out and showing the right characteristics.

“And the subs, the starters all got together in the dressing room and vowed that in the second half we were going to show the right body language, the right fighting qualities, we were going to stick together and go for the whole second half, whichever way the scoreline panned out.

“We spoke about that more than a comeback, to be honest. And then you do that and you get the early goal and from there the players drove it really, really forward and the away support was fantastic behind them.

“We needed that half-time. The group, and we all, have to keep learning how to deal with those circumstances. It can happen away from home on a night like this on a really difficult night to play when you make one or two mistakes and the opponent punishes you, then you can lose momentum.

“And for me, a really important part is how you react to that and I think what the group showed tonight bodes really, really well. Where that takes us, who knows? But I feel confident in the direction of travel in terms of this group becoming more resilient, more together and facing the challenges together as a group. I feel like that’s coming along.”

Asked whether it will be difficult to pick the players up ahead of Saturday’s trip to rock-bottom Sheffield Wednesday, McKenna added: “It’ll be difficult but it’s a difficult job. If it was easy, then success would come to everyone. That’s the challenge that we have to take on.

“There’s no doubt we’ve had two extra-times, two decisions, two moments at the end of the last two games in three days that if they had have panned out slightly differently, if they had panned out fairly, I think we’d be sitting here probably with six points from the two games, four points more than we have and we’d be feeling absolutely on top of the world.

“And at the moment, despite two really, really strong second halves, we’re feeling really low. That’s football, that’s the emotion of football, especially at this stage of the season when the games are coming as thick and fast as they are.

“But I believe that we’ll find the energy and the attitude over the next couple of days to approach the game on Saturday in the right way.

“The absolute best response is to get back out there on Saturday, try and deliver a good performance, hopefully, for as much of the 90 minutes as we can and get a good result.

“And if we’re there at five o’clock on Saturday, we’ll probably be talking about a good unbeaten run and the group showing resilience, and looking forward to actually having a few days’ training and having no midweek game and getting ready for Millwall at home.

“It can change quickly, it changed in the matter of a few seconds tonight. We’ll use the next couple of days now to pull the lads back together and make sure everyone’s ready for Saturday and hopefully get the result that will finish off the week a lot better than we feel at the moment.”

Photo: TWTD