Ipswich’s first comeback win of the campaign delights boss Kieran McKenna

Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna said his team deserved their first comeback win of the season, with the 2-1 win over Birmingham boosting their hopes of an immediate return to the Premier League.

The visitors stuck first in the Sky Bet Championship contest through Carlos Vicente, before the Tractor Boys scored two quick goals just before the break through Ben Johnson and Kasey McAteer.

Ipswich have games in hand over their immediate rivals and McKenna said: “A brilliant win, if I’m honest, in many ways.

“The first comeback win of the season is really important and I think it’s been coming. I’ve said that over the last few weeks and months.

“Every time we’ve had a setback our reaction is getting better and better and I think today was the best one because the group took a big body blow in the first half.

“It was hard to get a rhythm, hard to get the ball in play in the first 20 minutes, it was difficult but we were by far the team who wanted go on and to win the game.

“We have a big, big chance to go 1-0 up, their keeper (James Beadle) makes a really good save and they go up the other end and score a really well-taken goal.

“That’s a big blow for this group and the reaction they found from that moment to half-time in the goals that we scored was outstanding for me. That was the key phase of the game and we deserved to win.”

Birmingham manager Chris Davies was angry that referee Adam Herczeg ruled out an equaliser when his team trailed 2-1, claiming his players were ‘robbed’.

Herczeg ruled the ball crossed the byline before going in off Dara O’Shea midway through the second half and Davies said: “We were well in the game.

“The least we deserved from the game was a point and I’ve never been as frustrated in my time in football from a decision from an official.

“We’ve been robbed today of our point because of a decision from a linesman 60 yards away, who’s guessed on the ball going out. Every player around the ball suggested that that ball was in play.

“Yet we had an official that decided to guess falsely, wrongly, that the ball was out of play and I asked him after the game ‘why did you make that decision?’ He said ‘I can assure you that the ball was out of play, I wouldn’t have made it (the decision) if not.’ But he was wrong.”