Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna knows its a case of two points dropped following this afternoon's 1-1 home draw with Cheltenham Town.

The Blues took an early lead when Luke Woolfenden converted at a corner, but were pegged back massively against the run of play when Ryan Broom's angled shot squirmed under Christian Walton at the near post.

Ipswich pushed hard for a winner, but had to make do with a point thanks to a mixture of good saves, lunging blocks and some errant finishing.

After his side ended the match with 74% possession, 15 corners and 29 shots - two of which hit the woodwork - McKenna was asked how his side hadn't come away with a win.

"There is probably a short answer and long answer," he replied.

"The short answer is we only scored one of the many, many, many, many chances - and big chances - that we had.

"And we conceded from the only shot of the game. That was a goal that came from team and, especially, individual errors.

"There were so many positives. I thought it was one of the best performances since I've been here to be honest.

"I thought the first 30 minutes was probably the best performance since I've been here. Especially with it being the type of game it was, with a team coming here to set a low block and frustrate.

"I thought we did everything we asked them to do in the way we created the energy and the atmosphere.

"There are some things to look at, as well as positives to take, but there's no getting away from the over-riding feeling being one of disappointment at two points dropped."

MORE: Injury blow as Dominic Ball ruled out for the season.

Town remain four points behind League One leaders Plymouth, who drew at Lincoln today, with third-place Sheffield Wednesday closing the gap to a point following their win at Accrington.

McKenna continued: "When you get the one goal lead you should go on and win the game. We had more than enough chances to do that.

"I don't think us scoring changed the flow of the game. It wasn't like Cheltenham then came out and defended their box with less bodies. They still had a lot of bodies in front of the goal at 1-0.

"But we had more than enough chances to score. Of course luck comes into it. We have a great chance when Marcus (Harness) hits the underside of the bar - you're talking about millimetres from it being 2-0.

"It was similar at the end of the game when Panutche's (Camara) shot hits the inside of the post and we're millimetres from winning the game.

"We got the early goal, the first 30 minutes was very, very, very good. We should have got the second goal. As a team we can't then allow them to score with their first shot in the game."

Ipswich had three penalty appeals in the game - two handball shouts and one for a tangle with Freddie Ladapo.

"I've not seen any of them back, but I thought the handball at the end looked clear from where we were," said McKenna.

"I thought the time added on (seven minutes) wasn't particularly in context with what we've seen this season with us having eight or nine minutes added on in games.

"There are a few things I could say about the referee's performance, but I would rather focus on us and what we need to do better."

This frustrating draw brings back memories of last month's 1-0 home loss to Lincoln and the 0-0 draw against Cheltenham back in February.

"These type of matches are great challenges, no doubt about," said McKenna.

"I'm wide eyes open about how difficult it is for us here. There's no getting away from that.

"But I believed that we would score. That's a real positive. I had a real belief in the players right the way through and felt like we were going to score.

"It's not easy. As I said yesterday, this is as difficult a game to get a result in as the ones that people perceive to be the 'bigger' games.

"It's not easy to score when you have that many bodies throwing themselves in front of the ball.

"But when we create as many chnaces as we did we should score and the players know that.

"That's the challenge. It's a great challenge. I would certainly rather be in charge of the blue team than the red team. I was proud of a lot of things we did. We did so many good things.

"There was 26,000 and the atmosphere was fantastic. It's a great challenge for us as a team and for us as a club to be successful. It's certainly not easy.

"We're doing a lot of good things. I feel it is fair to say we haven't had the run of the green lately. That will change over the course of the season.

"And I still have a lot of belief in these players to keep improving and putting in performances and to getting big results."