Oxford United 2-1 Ipswich Town: Kieran McKenna on fog affected defeat

Leif Davis' header quickly cancelled out Yanic Wildschut's opener towards the end of the first half, with an ever-thickening fog making visibility increasingly difficult at the Kassam Stadium.

Referee Bobby Madden twice stopped the game to consult both managers and captains about a potential abandonment, but the action continued and Cameron Brannagan found the bottom corner from the edge of the box to win it for Oxford on 83 minutes.

"The end of the game wasn't right, in my opinion," said McKenna.

"I couldn't see the ball from the sideline. The players were saying they couldn't see the ball on the pitch.

"Conor (Chaplin) had a fantastic chance from five yards out and he says he couldn't see the ball.

"At that stage the game was a little bit ridiculous, in my opinion. 

The Kassam Stadium, shrouded in fog during the latter stages of Ipswich Town's 2-1 defeat at Oxford United. (Image: Pagepix Ltd)

"Oxford were being clever, in a way, just putting it in our box, because it was very hard to see. Things can happen in that situation.

"Of course it's a great strike, a wonder goal. We need to do better in the situation, but also I think the situation wasn't right."

Asked how close the game had come to being called off, McKenna explained: "I think me and Karl were both pretty similar on it. We both were expresing concerns at the start of the second half that we weren't able to see the ball from the sidelines.

"When the referee came over the first time at the start of the second half he said that the players were saying it was okay on the pitch and they wanted to continue.

"I thought it got much worse as the half went on. That's why we called the referee over again on 74 minutes to discuss it because, at that point, both myself and Karl, I believe, were both happy to play the game another day. Because it was going to be a lottery playing it in those last 20 minutes.

"I think the captains on the pitch were prepared for an abandonment, but the referee said that if it got abandoned after the 75th minute, even though it got stopped on the 74th minute, the result would stand.

"As a group we want to win, so we tried to go for the last 15 minutes and see if we could get the win.

"It's not an easy circumstance for the referee. I guess the thing that should have happened is he made sure that consulation happened on 70 minutes if the final call had to be made by 75 irrespective of when the ball went out of play."

Reflecting on the game, in which Marcus Harness, Wes Burns, George Hirst, Nathan Broadhead and Conor Chaplin all spurned big chances to score, McKenna said: "We're obviously disappointed and angry about how the day panned out.

"There's not much we can say now that's going to change it.

"We're obviously very disappointed to have lost the game. There are so many factors in terms of conditions, chances and things that didn't go our way.

"But at the end of the day we didn't do enouigh to get it over the line. We missed the chances that we had and they've scored a 25-yard bouncing volley to win the game with one of their only shots on target in the game.

"The first goal, obviously we weren't strong enough. It's too easy. It's a ball hoiked up into the sky and the striker gets through too easily to score.

"It was a really tough game today. Oxford played completely different to any Oxford team I've seen before in the league. That made it challenging. The conditions made it challenging.

"Having said all of that we still created more than enough to win the game and we didn't give away that much.

"So we know that performances-wise we're not far away. But we also know we're coming on the wrong side of the margin too often - and that's not something we're happy about."

Plymouth, Sheffield Wednesday and Derby all won today. It means Ipswich - who have now taken 15 points from their last 11 games - are 10 points adrift of the table-toppers, seven behind second and four ahead of fourth.

"I think it's right to be angry at times. We have to be frustrated," said McKenna.

"The players are working really hard, we're doing a lot of good things as a team, but it's right to be angry when you drop points that you don't want to drop and you're in a run of results that you're not happy with.

"It's about the reaction on Tuesday night now (at home to Morecambe). It's a big game, no doubt about it. We need to use the anger and disappointment from losing today to give us the energy that we're going to need.

"Pressure is what you make of it. There are still 19 league games to go. We put pressure on ourselves in every game to perform and pick up results and when we don't we're not happy.

"When you have a run of draws; some of which we feel should have been wins, and things don't go your way in those games; it's really important you come out of that run of draws with a win - and we haven't done that.

"It can very quickly go from 'however many games unbeaten' and being in a decent place, to it being a not good run of results that we're not happy with.

"Look, we don't have momentum at the moment. We want to get it back and quick.

"All we can do is stick together, fight really hard and get ready for the next game.

"I'm really happy the next game is on Tuesday night to be honest. We just want to get back out there and fight for three points.

"We have to win the next game as soon as we can, take it game-by-game and try and build some momentum back up again."