Lincoln City 1-1 Ipswich Town - Kieran McKenna's verdict

The Blues were against 10 men for more than half of this match after Imps defender Adam Jackson was shown a straight red card just before the break.

But it was Mark Kennedy's side who took the lead on 64 minutes when some tussling at a corner led to referee Declan Bourne pointing to the spot and Jack Diamond converting.

Town rescued a point through substitute Cameron Humphreys' late header, but 14 points from the last nine games has seen them slip out of the automatic promotion places at the start of 2023. 

"I thought the penalty against was a ridiculous decision really that was completely out of context of everything I've seen during my year in League One," said McKenna, when asked for his summary.

"But on the other hand it's not out of context with everything I've seen from what we've been given in the last 12 months. 

"I've said it in the dressing room, it's going to be a massive, massive, massive challenge but a great achievement to get this club out of League One.

"There are a whole host of challenges ahead of us. Today and that decision was symbolic of one of the big challenges.

"It's very difficult being Ipswich Town in League One, but we have to embrace that, we have to improve and we have to keep owning the bits we can do better."

Asked if he felt there was a bias against his side, McKenna replied: "I'm still trying to figure it out to be honest. I don't think it's that. It's not about bias against Ipswich Town per se. 

"I think the penalty record is really, really bizarre. We've had penalty incidences 10 times worse than that several times over at Portman Road and they've not been given.

"We've had one penalty at home all season and two against us which, from a statistical point of view, given the amount of appeals, balls in the box and challenges against that we have, for me makes it really, really difficult to understand.

"For that to be given when that happens in every game - it happened in both boxes today at every corner - was really strange.

"I don't fully understand the reasoning behind it but it's something that for me is real from the evidence I've seen. It's something we need to push back against."

Asked what the penalty was given for, McKenna said: "The referee said it was for 'marking inappropriately'. I can't remember the incidences off the top of my head, but we've had penalty appeals when people have been taken down by the neck just as they are about to make contact in the face of the goal. Greg Leigh had one in the first half today where he gets pulled back by the neck.

"So to give one for inappropriate marking when the ball wasn't even in that area, I thought, was so out of context of the game.

"Referees can make mistakes, as we all can, but when one comes like that...

"The referee says he's not given one like that all season. I can't believe that's the most aggressive incident he's seen in the box all season.

"That's a challenge for us. Of course we hope that it can be evened up at some point. 

"For now we need to turn those frustrations on ourselves and the things we can improve."

On his side facing 10-men for the entirety of the second half, McKenna said: "I thought we were in a really good moment in the game before the red card to be honest.

"It was a steady game. The first 15/20 minutes was pretty even. But then I thought we were really growing into the game and had big chances to go 1-0 up.

"I thought we were in great ascendency and, at that stage of the game, Lincoln were still trying to play and have a football match against us and leaving some space.

"Of course when the red card comes you are able to control the ball easier, but they stop coming out of their box and give you no space whatsoever. They do that very well. It suits their qualities that they have and they've done it twice now this week both against Bolton and ourselves."

With Leif Davis and George Edmundson left out of the squad, topscorer Conor Chaplin on the bench and Janoi Donacien forced off at half-time, McKenna was asked about the illness that has affected his squad in recent days.

"Look, I'm not going to go into it too much but it's been a really difficult 48 hours," said the Blues boss.

"I've not experienced a dressing room with as much sickness as what we've had this week. If we were picking fit players we would probably have had three players on the pitch.

"Credit to all the lads for putting themselves out there."

Town have now claimed 14 points from their last nine games and slipped out of the automatic promotion places ahead of a huge home clash with leaders Plymouth on January 14.

"There's such a long way ahead," said McKenna. "We have managed to keep pretty level whenever we were top of the league. 

"There are an awful lot of points still to play for and we still have to play all of the teams in and around us. 

"It's an exciting second half of the season. We're in a good position, we're perfomring well and there's a lot to be pleased about.

"Of course we do feel like we should have more points than we have. That's the reality.

"We need to convert performances into points more consistently. We need to turn attacking performances into goals and defensive performances into clean sheets.

"But there have been lots of things that haven't gone our way and I'm sure there will be an evening up of that in the second half of the season.

"There's lots to look forward to. It's FA Cup next Saturday (at home to Rotherham) and then another really big game after that."

Asked how dominating performances can be turned into more goals and points, McKenna said: “For me today, it should be a clean sheet. The opposition I think had one chance in the first half, which was an offside that wasn’t given, and they get given a penalty, so it should be a clean sheet.

“We feel like we should be scoring more for the chances that we’re creating, so we need to be more clinical.

“We need to keep working with the players individually, we need to recruit well in the window to be more clinical with the chances we get and we need to keep working on our play as a team to create more chances.

“But the reality is that we are creating many more chances than any team in the league and we’re giving away much fewer chances than any team in the league. So the margins are really thin.

"We can sit here and poke and look at the faults but probably we’re doing that because we’ve lost points by really fine margins in games and that doesn't have too much to do with our play as a team.

“It’s important to keep looking at where we need to improve but also to recognise that we’re very, very fine margins from having a lot more points on the board than we have.

"We need to keep improving the little aspects that can help us in those really tight situations.”

Reflecting on a festive period in which the Blues have taken five points from nine while staying unbeaten, previously beating Oxford United 3-0 at home and drawing 2-2 at Portsmouth, McKenna added: “Performance-wise and spirit, I’m pleased with the group.

“It’s been a really difficult week in the camp, we’ve had a difficult fixture list with Oxford and two tough away games and it’s been difficult getting a healthy team on the pitch.

“But we wanted more than five points. Five points across the week feels like a low-ish return and we need to review the reasons why and keep improving on that aspect.”

Despite the frustrating draws and dropping out of the top two, McKenna says there’s no panic.

“Absolutely not,” he insisted. “It’s going to be a really big challenge to get out of this league. Every game’s a cup final for the other team, we’re getting paid huge amount of respect by the opponents and we’re still managing to put in good performances and not get beaten very often and win a good number of games. But, of course, we’ve had more draws lately than we would want.

“In terms of our general play, our principles, we’re in a good place. We’re creating plenty and not giving away much.

“For sure, we’re going to look to add to the squad and improve the squad in the second half of the season, which will have a part to play, but, of course, the other teams will as well.

“Now we have 11 days or so with no (league) game, we’ll hopefully have some new players in the door, which will give us a boost and we’ll look at things and give ourselves the best chance of a good second half of the year.”