The Blues were frustrated by the organised visitors for the majority of this game, went behind when Lewis Gibson scrambled in at a corner (72) but drew level in stoppage-time when Jack Clarke won and converted a penalty (90+2).

A grandstand finish followed, with Ipswich having three more big shouts for penalties waved away by John Busby.

Asked if he felt his team should have been awarded another spot kick at the death, McKenna replied: “I think we should have had another two, to be honest.

“There’s a shove on Jack Clarke as he comes in the box and someone comes in and crashes in from behind – that’s a clear pen.

“Then when Jack Clarke tries to pop it around the corner to Chuba (Akpom) in the box the midfielder’s there with his arm out and moves his arm towards the ball and knocks it away. The referee’s 10 yards away and staring straight at it.

“I take big positives in our reaction to going 1-0 down today and the way we pushed for the equaliser.

“I thought the reaction on the pitch and in the stands was outstanding. The players and the crowd stuck together in adversity so, for me, it was a comeback win. I’m just disappointed that we didn’t end up getting that win.”

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For the large majority of this game, Ipswich had little answer to Preston’s 5-3-2 deep block, with whistle happy Busby not helping the flow of the game either. The visitors posed a real threat on the counter too and had the better chances before taking the lead.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s at Portman Road today or if it’s at Anfield or if it’s at Arsenal – if a team comes and defends really, really deep with a strong back five, put an extra midfielder into the team then it’s hard,” said McKenna.

“That’s not a criticism of them by the way. They did a really good job. They came with a game plan, defended really, really deep and had a good threat with (Daniel) Jebbison. You know there’s going to be a threat on their set plays.

“It’s hard for the players and it’s hard for the crowd because they want to see an open, exciting game. If you get the early goal then possibly it might open up but if you don’t it’s going to be difficult.

“We didn’t pass that test today. That’s the reality. I think we did some good things in the first half, had some good situations, but we weren’t quite clinical enough. We also missed some moments to get the extra body in the box or to get across people in the box to go and get the goal.

“They had a counter-threat through the game. We didn’t quite manage to ever get on top of that with their striker running down the channels.

“Then the real frustration is to concede from the set play because we’ve spoken a lot this year about giving ourselves 90 plus minutes to win the game.

“Of course, it’s not new but just because you’ve been through it before it doesn’t mean that you can’t reflect on it. You’re not always going to be perfect. It’s a work in progress. I think we have made some good strides against deep teams, against back fives who defend really deep in the box. We didn’t manage to execute well enough today or control their threat as well as we would have liked so we’ll reflect on that.”