Kieran McKenna: I didn’t think Ipswich had an edge to kill the game off

Kieran McKenna was pleased to see his Ipswich side claim three points against Oxford but disappointed they lacked “an edge” to kill the game off.

The 2-1 win moved the Tractor Boys up to second in the Sky Bet Championship as they registered a fourth successive home win.

Leading scorer Jaden Philogene’s quality finish after 17 minutes put the Tractor Boys ahead only for Will Lankshear to level in the 34th minute, but Town were soon back in front as Chuba Akpom recorded his second goal of the season five minutes before the break.

It proved enough for them to leapfrog Middlesbrough, who lost at Derby, while Oxford’s eighth away defeat of the campaign saw them slip to 23rd in the table, three points from safety.

McKenna said: “We’re happy to get the win. It’s coming in a really busy week for everyone and you have to appreciate it even more.

“I thought we certainly did enough to win the game but without doing everything that we probably wanted to do to be honest.

“There was some good football played, some good moves through the pitch but I didn’t think we had an edge to our performance to go and kill the game or to guarantee a clean sheet.

“We’re a little bit frustrated by those things but you have to temper that by the fact that we’re in the middle of an incredibly busy schedule this week and Christmas week but probably since November, so there’s some challenges in there…you have to appreciate the three points.”

Meanwhile, Oxford’s interim head coach Craig Short was “really, really pleased” with his team’s reaction to going behind and that they didn’t get “blown away”.

Short, whose side applied concerted pressure on the Ipswich defence in the second half, added: “I wanted a performance from the players.

“Today, coming to a team in form, you are fearful, you’re fearful that the lads might just, if you have a setback, go under.

“It was all about defending, being patient, trying to get a mid-block right and then I knew if we had an opportunity, I know we’ve got threats, but when we conceded I said to the lads ‘it’s going to be a big test for you, how are you going to respond?’

“I was really, really pleased how they responded in getting the goal.

“We started to get on the ball a little bit and confidence seemed to grow with them and I know with a place like this, full of expectation, they are going to blow us away but we didn’t get blown away and that’s what I was pleased about.”