Stand-in skipper Janoi Donacien saw plenty of positives in his side’s 0-0 draw with Portsmouth.

The right-sided centre half was given the armband after Sam Morsy’s early exit with a recurrence of his hamstring problem, with the Blues defence going on to secure a hugely impressive 11th clean sheet in 15 matches under Kieran McKenna.

There were frustrations as the Blues drew a blank in front of goal, notably on 88 minutes when a Macauley Bonne goal was wrongly chalked off for offside, but Donacien still saw plenty of positives.

East Anglian Daily Times: Janoi Donacien looks to stop the run of Joe Morrell.Janoi Donacien looks to stop the run of Joe Morrell. (Image: © Copyright Stephen Waller)

“We didn’t give them much,” the defender said, in an interview with the club.

“We’re locking it up at the back and putting pressure on them, squeezing them out.

“For the whole second half they were camped in and we just needed that little bit of luck for a goal and it would have sealed off a really good day.

“We’ll take the positives of the clean sheet and move on.”

The draw leaves Ipswich five points back from the final play-off place with eight matches remaining. Donacien, playing with a support on his left wrist, maintains belief.

“We’re in the wars and we’re in it together,” he said.

“Everyone’s got everyone’s back here.

“We look forward to what they are saying is another tough game (at Oxford next weekend), so we look forward to that one and keep on fighting.

“We give everything in training and it’s showing. They were blowing in the second half with the keeper and centre mid going down.

“But we had more to give and were still going.”