Ipswich Town 2-2 Sheffield Wednesday: Kieran McKenna's verdict

Conor Chaplin saw a penalty saved midway through the first half and within 15 minutes the Owls were 2-0 up through goals from Michael Smith and George Byers.

The Blues were rocking at that moment in the match, but Nathan Broadhead's superb free-kick goal changed the mood just before half-time and Leif Davis' deflected free-kick strike had the scores level soon after the restart.

Ipswich subsequently looked the more likely to win it in front of a packed Portman Road crowd, but had to settle for a share of the spoils.

"I think we need to take a balanced view, but primarily my feeling is that we need to take the positives," said McKenna, whose side remain third in the League One table and six points adrift of the automatic promotion places.

"We found ourselves in a really difficult situation in the game at probably a difficult point in our season.

Nathan Broadhead's fine free-kick strike got Ipswich Town back to 2-1. (Image: Steve Waller)

"To be 2-0 down against a team of that strength, with that experience, on that run, who haven't conceded a goal in so long, and come back in the game, get the goals, get back to the performance that we wanted and to end up with a point that could have been three... 

"I think we have to take the positives from that and use that to build our confidence, our mindset and our belief in what we're capable of as a team."

MORE: Andy Warren's player ratings after Town's 2-2 draw with Sheffield Wednesday.

He continued: "Look, there's no doubt about it, the penalty (miss) knocked the stuffing out of our players and out of the crowd a little bit and gave them a big boost.

"That's doubled when they score a really, really good goal shortly after that.

"That was incredible individual quality. That's why they are at the top of the league. It's a ball down the side from a quick free-kick, but (Josh) Windass is on his wrong foot, whips in a beauty and Smith scores a header which if anyone in world football scores we'd all be purring about it. So I think you have give them credit for that first goal.

"Our reaction to that wasn't good. The second goal was a really poor goal to concede. We didn't deal with the long ball, we didn't stop the cross and we didn't deal with that cross. All that was disappointing, so we have to look back at that.

"The penalty miss and their first goal were such big momentum swings that aren't easy to handle though. 

"Look at how Sheffield Wednesday handled us coming back into the game. You could say that they also showed nervousness, anxiety and pressure in their performance. We're dealing with human beings dealing with an emotional game, whether that's a vastly experienced team like Sheffield or whether it's us who, if we're being truthful about it, had quite a few young players on the pitch experiencing this situation for the first time.

"The main thing we needed to do, which we did in the build-up to the free-kick award, is get back to our details, get back to controlling the game and how we play.

"It was about not allowing the importance of the game, the atmsophere or the game state to dictate what we were doing.

"When we managed to do that we won the free-kick, scored a brilliant free-kick and that was the template for what we needed to do in the second half.

"I thought we put in a really strong performance second half, got the goal and probably deserved to have got more."

On Broadhead's superb dead ball finish, a curling effort which found the top corner via the underside of the bar, McKenna said: "I've seen him score all type of goals - from outside the box, inside the box, headers - but I can't say we knew he had that free-kick in him! 

"It certainly gave everyone a boost and belief. It was a fantastic moment for him to get his first goal and will hopefully be an important moment for us in the season.

"We knew we needed to get back to doing what we do well in the second half. We did that, dominated the game from the first minute of the second half and continued that for most of the second half.

"They had moments where they put long throw after long throw into the box, which they do very well, but credit to our players - we stood up to that.

"I think there are big positives to take from the general performance in the second half."

Third-place Town remain six points adrift of second-place Sheffield Wednesday.

Plymouth are now eight points clear of the Blues at the top, while Bolton have drawn level on points.

"If you take the two games against Sheffield Wednesday, two 2-2 draws, over the course of a 46-game season that's probably not going to be decisive in terms of your outcomes at the end either way," said McKenna.

"Of course there's strange symmetry to both games in terms of us being 2-0 up at their place and them being 2-0 down at our place.

"I think these two draws won't be decisive. What we need to be decisive is how we changed the narrative at 2-0 down today.

"Missing the penalty and them scoring from their first good moment in the game could have got on top of us. We could have let that moment dictate the outcome of the game and the outcome of the season.

"What we have to try and do is use the way we changed that situation as a positive to strengthen us for the rest of the season. If we do that then, hopefully, today could be a decisive moment in the season for us."

Asked about Sheffield Wednesday players running down the clock towards the end of today's game, McKenna said: "With the position they are in, there's no doubt they would have seen a point as a good one before this game started.

"The time wasting starts from about 65 minutes when we had big, big momentum in the game. Somebody sits down in the penalty area for two minutes, takes another two minutes to walk off the pitch and comes back on.

"That's what teams at this level do. It's not easy for the authorities to find a solution to it but I think it damages the spectacle, the product and the level of the football.

"Sheffield certainly aren't the only team that do it. It's not personal against them, it's just something that I think the league need to keep working on."