Kieran McKenna said that his city side of Ipswich ‘is’ a long way’ from where they can be despite the gap of a point against Birmingham City in their championship opener.
McKenna watched while his game saved a point in the fifth minute of the second half of the stopping time thanks to George Hirst’s penalty led those profitable scenes in St. Andrew’s.
Birmingham had taken a deserved lead through the 55th -minute efforts of Jay Stansfield, where the hosts also exclude the goal of Kyogo Furuhashi in the game early.
And just when Birmingham had the feeling that they had made a winning return to the second layer, a hard handball against Lyndon Dykes in the box of Hirst to seal part of the loot.
Indeed, four of the last five league games between the two parties are now ending in a draw, with the other 3-1 won in February 2024.
And while the tractor boys ensured that they did not start their campaign 2025-26 with a defeat, McKenna called areas of improvement in his team Vooruit.
“It was really a tough game. It would always be on the opening night. There was not much in the game; we did not impose ourselves,” McKenna told Sky Sports.
“It is still early for the group; we improved after the goal. The boys went on; late goals are good for every successful team.
“Their pressure was good. It is early for our group; we get better if we do the right things. It gives us a foundation and we will play much better. We have to do work.
“It has been a short change. Our team must be stronger; we are far away where we can be.”
Birmingham has left more than their mark on their return to the championship, but marginal leading the expected goals (XG) metric after registering a count of 1.38 of their 11 shots to Ipswich’s 1.31 of their seven attempts.
But Bluesbaas Chris Davies could not look beyond the decision to grant Ipswich their late penalty, and to label the conclusion of Andrew Kitchen as ‘hard’ against Dykes.
“It was a good game. I was really happy with how we played, and we are disappointed about the penalty and so late to admit is a painful,” Davies said.
“The penalty is hard – you can go around the games this weekend, and you won’t see much that have been given – during the season you hope to get you on you.
“We didn’t let them be established and the boys were really focused-we were really organized and engaged. I could see so many positives after the game.
“We won’t play many teams better than that, and we have probably been the better side during the game.”
While Birmingham will be frustrated by not closing the game, their impressive record continued at St. Andrew’s.
They are unbeaten in their last 26 home games (W21 D5), who only have a longer unbeaten home run between October 1970 and April 1972 (36 games).
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