Kieran McKenna felt final product let Ipswich down in Millwall draw

Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna accepted end product was lacking from his side as they were forced to settle for a goalless draw at Millwall.

It was the hosts that had the better of the chances in this clash between two top-six hopefuls, with Ipswich goalkeeper Christian Walton making several fine saves.

While he was a big reason for Millwall’s winless league run extending to four games, opposite number Max Crocombe was underemployed in comparison as the Lions’ defence refused to buckle.

Being unable to break the deadlock at The Den, despite ending the stronger side, meant the Tractor Boys could not apply pressure on second-placed Middlesbrough.

McKenna said: “I thought we found some great spaces against one of the best pressing teams in the league.

“I thought we played through their press and controlled their press really, really well, we got into great situations carrying the ball through the middle of the pitch, working to wide areas, one-v-ones down the side of the box.

“If you get to that point, you feel you’ve had to do a lot of good things in the game.

“We created some chances and even with the shots we had, on another day one could go in and we can win the game 1-0 – I don’t think that’s too far away.

“But also we could have done a little bit better on the last pass sometimes and we could have had even more big chances.

“So, disappointed not to have got the goal but I don’t think we were far away from it.”

Millwall started very brightly, with Mihailo Ivanovic having a shot from Jake Cooper’s cut-back pushed away by Walton after five minutes.

Walton then had to be on his toes again when he kept out a looping header by Caleb Taylor from Alfie Doughty’s corner.

Ivanovic was the first to threaten in the second half when Walton had to scramble across to keep down a volley from outside the area that bounced awkwardly in front of him.

Jaden Philogene was the most threatening of Ipswich’s attackers and he came close to snatching the lead in the 68th minute when he was denied by Crocombe.

Millwall boss Alex Neil felt his injury-hit team looked the more likely winners.

He said: “For the qualities we know Ipswich have got, and how stretched we are at the moment – having to take Billy [Mitchell] off after 70 minutes to protect him – I thought the lads did extremely well.

“I was really pleased with the effort they put into the game, I didn’t think we deserved to lose the game by any stretch – if anything, if any team would have nicked it, it would have been us nicking it, rather than them.

“Saying we held on [for the draw] does us a bit of a disservice, albeit we did concede the ball but I don’t think we were getting peppered by any means.

“The only one I can remember was when it was across the face and Joe [Bryan] hooks it out for a corner, but I thought we were good value.

“I thought keeping the clean sheet was important – obviously, the last couple of results haven’t been great and we needed to make sure we didn’t lose.”