Kieran McKenna unhappy with performance and result as Ipswich held at Cambridge

Posted Sunday, February 05, 2023 by PA

Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna felt his League One promotion contenders were well off the pace after they could only draw at struggling Cambridge.

Cambridge led through an excellent strike from outside the box by Harvey Knibbs, and they were denied a second before the break when Christian Walton kept out Joe Ironside’s penalty.

It was a different affair after the interval, with the U’s defending well to earn a battling point following Freddie Ladapo’s equaliser for Ipswich nine minutes after the restart.

“I thought the first half was way below the standards that are acceptable for us,” McKenna said. “I didn’t like anything about our performance really in the first half.

“We started with the ball under control, but not enough intensity, not enough urgency, not enough penetration, all of the things that we wanted to have in a game we didn’t have.

“We conceded a goal which you can say is a good goal but it’s also a lack of concentration from us in the build-up to the goal.

“Having shown what levels we’re capable of last weekend against Burnley, in terms of concentration to keep a clean sheet, it’s not acceptable to concede in a moment like that from their first shot.

“The second half was better, we came out with more intent and created much more chances, scored a goal early on and had more than enough chances and moments where we could have done better and gone on and got the winning goal from there.

“It’s a day where we’re not happy with the performance, not happy with the outcome, and we need to put it right next week.”

Mark Bonner felt his Cambridge side were taking steps in the right direction after a second successive League One draw which left the U’s two points from safety.

“I think that’s the level of physical commitment, intensity, organisation that we’ve got to get to to get our points,” Bonner said. “That’s where you build momentum and confidence.

“We knew after last week we were really pleased with the performance at Lincoln. We needed to add a bit more creativity to our game if we could today against a super power of the level.

“They’re a brilliant team and we knew how tough that would be, but we wanted last week to be a platform that we could build on. We certainly have built on that today.

“In the last couple of weeks we’ve ground out results, and today probably more than ground it out, and taken a really important point.

“We’re delighted with the point and the performance and it gives us another little one to build on as we turn the page towards the next 18 games.”