Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna was left frustrated by his side's inability to kill off matches following their 1-1 draw with Shrewsbury on Saturday.
The Tractor Boys had taken an early lead in the game through James Norwood in the sixth minute, but let the three points slip away with Shaun Whalley scoring for the Shrews in the 84th minute, to ensure both sides had to settle for a point.
Speaking after the match, McKenna's frustration and disappointment was clear to see, with the Ipswich boss quoted by TWTD.co.uk as saying: "Very disappointed.
“Disappointed at ourselves mostly. I thought we got off to a really good start, delivered a really dominant performance for the large majority of the game, completely in control, created enough opportunities and situations to go and kill the game off, but we didn’t manage to do that.
“I think the main frustration at the moment is that when you don’t do that, as we haven’t done enough, when the game’s 1-0, stuff can happen, especially at this level and away from home.
“We allowed the game to still be open at 75 minutes when really the game should have been dead in terms of the quality of our performance. That’s the main frustration at the moment, we have to look at ourselves.
“That’s a big step we need to make, to develop that mindset and that quality in group, to be ruthless, to make sure that when we’re as dominant as we are today, it’s case closed by the time we get to the stage of the game that the red card happened.”
The Shrewsbury Town equaliser came after Cameron Burgess saw a red card with 15 minutes left to play in the match.
Continuing on his frustration at Ipswich's inability to see out the match, McKenna explained it has been a common theme he has seen during his time at the club so far and that his side must work on becoming more ruthless, as he added: “I don’t want to exaggerate, but across the games, I don’t think there are many games where the performance didn’t warrant three points. There might be a few but not many.
“But it’s not about playing well enough to get the three points, it’s about getting the three points.
“There have been different reasons in different games but if we’re speaking about a general theme, then I think it’s fair to say that we don’t kill off the game well enough at the moment, we’re not ruthless or aggressive enough to go and kill a game and to get more goals for most aspects of our performance deserve.
“Our focus has to be on developing that side of it, not feeling sorry for ourselves looking at what we can develop and do better in the team.”
Ipswich Town currently sit ninth in the Sky Bet League One table following their draw versus Shrewsbury - eight points adrift of the top six. They are next in action on Saturday afternoon, when they travel to the New York Stadium to face promotion chasing Rotherham United.
The Verdict
Any remaining Ipswich Town hopes of a top six finish are surely gone after another frustrating draw for the club at the weekend.
It's now just one win in their last five for the Tractor Boys, seeing them fall to ninth in the table.
That run includes three draws, and you sense that it is turning those into wins that is the challenge ahead for McKenna next season.
If he does that, next season, Ipswich Town should find themselves much higher in the league standings, given the quality they have in their squad right now.