Bristol Rovers 0 Ipswich Town 0: Kieran McKenna's verdict

Not for the first time this season, the Blues were frustrated by a team that defended deep and looked to play on the counter.

With his side having slipped to fourth in the League One table, McKenna said: "Look, we’re playing tonight against one of the most attacking and aggressive and open teams in the league who usually score a lot and concede a lot. 

“Their manager, credit to him for his honesty, has apologised to me straight after the game for not being willing to give us a match and not being willing to play their normal way. 

“Credit that he has the self-awareness and the honesty to say that. I understand why, but it doesn’t help us. 

“That’s the level - I don't know if you want to call it a level of respect, because we haven’t won enough games - but that’s the approach that teams are taking against us a little bit more. 

“I felt like that might be the case after the Morecambe game where a team came and played open against us and we punished them in the first half. 

“I think we face a completely different Bristol side tonight than any Bristol side I’ve seen this season. That shows why they managed to grind out a clean sheet. 

“That’s the challenge we face. We can’t hide from it. We need to face it. We need to keep working to find solutions individually. We need to keep working to find solutions tactically. 

“I thought tonight we tried a lot of different ways. We tried to go longer into the front, we tried to cross it, we tried to go into feet, we tried to go in behind, we tried to go early and aggressive with our substitutes.  

“We had 15 shots from inside the penalty box, 21 shots in total and we didn’t manage to find a goal. 

“Tonight it wasn’t enough and we just need to keep working to find solutions. It’s certainly a challenge."

MORE: Andy Warren's player ratings following Town's 0-0 draw at Bristol Rovers.

When it was out to McKenna that four wins from 15 in the league wasn't nowhere good enough for a team with automatic promotion ambitions, he replied: “No. There’s no getting away from that. We know that. It’s too many draws. We haven’t lost many games, but it’s too many draws. 

“I think in isolation, if I'm honest, a draw tonight, 0-0 away on a Tuesday night, when a team sets up like that against you and then has threats on the counter-attack, a draw isn’t a disaster. 

“But the accumulation of draws makes it a disappointing run. 

“But these things can change. We’ve shown in the first half of the season that we can accumulate a lot of points. We showed in my time last year that we can accumulate a lot of points and put a run together. 

“That’s not happening at the moment. I still feel like we’re not far away from it, to be honest. I feel like in general the performances and attitude haven’t been far away. 

“I don’t think we were far away tonight. But of course the supporters don’t want to hear that at the moment. There’s frustration there. I understand that. 

“From our point of view we need to keep working to find solutions, we need to keep the players’ confidence up because it’s not easy for them at the moment. They desperately want to be successful as well.

"We need to stay strong and keep the confidence and belief high enough to give us a good chance to win the next game and just build on that."

Asked what he feels has been behind his side's downturn in results since late October, McKenna said: “I don’t think it’s ever one thing or it would be easy to fix. 

“We’ve drawn games. When you don’t win then of course your confidence can be affected because you’re not winning games as freely as you were and you’re not going into the game to win as freely. Individually you are not at the same level of confidence. 

“But it’s very fine margins. We could have scored in the first minute today. We had a couple of chances in the first couple of minutes of the game and if one of them goes in then the game is different. 

“We had chances right to the last minute of the game. They defended en masse, they put their bodies on the line, they fought for a nil-nil and they got it. 

“Those are the challenges ahead of us. We just need to keep fighting, get the first win and make sure we keep the attitude consistent, as it was tonight, where I’ve got no complaints. 

"Keep that attitude and just look to fight for a result at the time."

Five of the top seven all won tonight. Town are now eight points adrift of second-place Sheffield Wednesday and are only seven ahead of seventh-place Wycombe (both those sides having a game in hand to come).

“Look, we just have to focus on ourselves and try to win the next game (at home to Forest Green Rovers on Saturday)," said McKenna. "We’re not in a position to be talking about winning runs or points totals because we’ve drawn too many games. 

“We need to win the next game and then fight to win the next game after that. 

“Only when we’ve done that more consistently can we worry about what other teams are doing."

Asked if pressure was a factor in the wins drying up, the Blues boss said: “I think that’s natural. Everyone wants it really badly within the club and around the club. 

"The supporters are here en masse, they’ve contributed greatly over the season. The players are giving a lot behind the scenes and are working hard. 

“Of course everyone wants to be successful at the end of the season. When you’re in a run where you’ve drawn too many games then of course confidence isn’t as high as it was earlier in the season. 

“The only way to earn that back is through hard work. Hard work back on the training ground, hard work on Saturday, hard work to fight to come out on the right side of the margins and then that confidence can be restored again."

Having made four changes to his starying line-up tonight, he explained: “There are a few we didn’t have options on to be honest. There’s a quick turnaround from Saturday and it’s a long travel. 

“Nathan (Broadhead) wasn’t fit to start the game. He had cramp in both his hamstrings on Saturday and is still feeling tight, so medically he was limited with what he could do tonight. 

“Of course we’re trying to rotate and freshen a bit in the forward positions. 

“But yeah... the players are fighting and they all want to stake a claim and start lots and lots of games. 

“That’s a challenge for them individually."

Asked if any of injured trio George Edmundson, Massimo Luongo and Lee Evans might be back in time for Saturday's game, McKenna said: “Maybe George and Mass, possibly. They weren’t ready for today but we’re hoping they can join in training on Thursday. 

“Lee Evans, no. Nothing’s confirmed on him yet. He’s seeing the specialist this week and I should be able to update you on that come Friday."