Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna says pre-season is a time for 'ironing out mistakes' following this afternoon's 2-2 draw against Flyeralarm Admira.

Following an intense training camp in northern Austria - the central European nation currently in the middle of a heat wave - the Blues split their squad to play two friendlies today.

This morning, Sone Aluko and Marcus Harness were on target in a 2-1 win against Slovakian side Spratak Trnava, with the goal against described as an 'error at the back'.

This afternoon, Town twice had to come from behind in soaring tempertaures as finishes from Freddie Ladapo and Conor Chaplin cancelled out headed goals from the second-tier hosts. 

"We've had a really good week and got everything out of it that you want to get out of a training camp," said McKenna. "There's been some really good sessions on the grass, a couple of double sessions.

"It's not just been physical work though. More importantly we've been able to get the tactical work in. There has been lots of time in the classroom looking at video because we have more access to the players.

"And there's been lots of good time off the pitch enjoying each others' company and restrengthening that spirit and bond that we have. You can't take that for granted , you have to keep working on it and weeks like this are really good part of that process."

On this morning's win against a side that takes part in Europa Conference League qualifying next week, McKenna said: "It was a really good game. They were a good opponent preparing for an important game next week. 

"I thought we played really well. We scored a really good goal early on, had other chances in the first half and then Marcus scored another really good goal breaking from the halfway line by himself in the second half.

"The last 20 minutes were tough physically. You're of course stretched when you split the squad across two games in the same day. So the players really had to dig in for the last 20. We had young boys coming on. 

"It was a really good game and we'll certainly be stronger for it."

On this afternoon's draw, the Blues boss said: "It was a mixed bag. I think it was 35 degrees at kick-off from our thermometer. There's no doubt about, our players struggled a bit in the first half to get the intensity of the game.

"It's probably the hottest I've ever coached in and for the players it's probably the hottest they've ever played in.

"It was difficult to get quite up to speed in the first half, we made some mistakes for the goals, a mistake to concede a set-play and that's something that we will want to be strong on again this season. But it's the time of the season to make those mistakes.

"We also conceded a goal in the first game this morning which wasn't great from our point of view, but that's part of what pre-season is for - it's for ironing out mistakes, it's for working on details. It's better that these things happen now so we can work on them because we don't want them to happen too often in the season.

"I thought we got stronger as the game went on, I thought we looked physically good in the second half and created more than enough chance to get more than the two goals we got. Of course it's nice for Conor and Freddie to get goals. I know Conor was keen to get off the mark.

"So plenty of positives. It's great for the young boys (Leon Ayinde, Harry Barbrook and Ryan Carr) to come and make a contribution again. It wasn't easy for them to play across both games with very little time in between. It was a great experience for them and they made a good impact when they came on.

"For the senior boys it was about getting as many minutes into them across the whole squad."

Town return to Suffolk tomorrow. They travel to Lancashire to face Championship rivals Preston on Wednesday night, then have another friendly dounle header next weekend against Cambridge United and Stevenage.

"This first couple of weeks the training blocks are more important than the games really," said McKenna. "The games were about getting minutes.

"Preston will of course be a big step up. It's back to a more familiar environment in terms of what we're going to face this year in terms of climate and pitch.

"That will be a good test. Of course it's still to early to say that it will be a marker, but it will be a good test and we'll utilise the whole squad again for the minutes.

"We'll follow that with more match minutes next week and then we'll follow that up with games against Luton and two Bundesliga sides. 

"For us the first three weeks of pre-season has been a block that we've looked at separate. Now it's a two-week block where we ramp up the match minutes and we ramp up the quality of the opposotion. That's going to be really good for us. Then we can all look forward to the first game."