'Can't miss it' - Kieran McKenna livid with decision in Preston North End's win over Ipswich Town

Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna felt his side deserved to take something away from Deepdale on Saturday - and that Preston North End's second goal should've been given offside.

The Lilywhites stunned the promotion chasing visitors in the first half, with Will Keane's brace and an own goal from George Edmundson sending Preston in at the break 3-0 ahead. Town sent deadline day signing Kieffer Moore on at the break and he scored twice, to set up a nervy finish.

Preston held out for three hard earned points, though. It was just the fourth Championship defeat of the season for Ipswich, who were put to the sword in the first half but still almost snatched a point. McKenna knew it was going to be a tough test for his players, but felt the officials got a big call wrong - by allowing the Edmundson own goal to stand.

"It was a difficult place to come anyway, but when you concede two goals - two very unfortunate goals - in the first eight or nine minutes..." said McKenna post match. "The first goal is a shot from maybe 30 yards, that takes a big deflection. The second goal is two yards offside. It's so clear, it can't not be given by the linesman. George has made an aggressive decision to step up, but it's the right decision when the striker is two yards offside. The linesman can't miss it.

You're 2-0 down after eight minutes. That's probably the worst situation that it could be, because Preston can then defend their box with a lot of bodies. Of course we lacked a little bit in the final third. We lacked the profile and the presence in the final third. That was exaggerated by the score line, which completely dictated the tone and the feel of the game. Preston were able to feel like they were doing well in the game because they had the goals.

"At half-time, honestly, my feeling was that we were still right in the game. On the balance I didn't think certain things were too far off. We just needed to improve in the final third and we needed to not have anything else go against us. We certainly produced a really good performance in the second half that I think deserved to get us something from the game. I think it's a day where, in the first half, pretty much everything that could go wrong did go wrong and we find ourselves 3-0 down in a really tough stadium.

"The players have still produced a really good second half though that I think deserved to get something out of the game. We weren't ourselves, but when you go 2-0 down to Preston; of course the goals we need to own and look at, but the first goal has a large, large chunk of misfortune and the second goal is officiating. We can still do better on our blocking technique, but away to Preston, with the type of team they are and the profile of players we had on the pitch, it was always going to be a difficult half."