KIERAN'S POSITIVE AS HIS BLUES RESCUE POINT

BOTH managers insisted they were content after Ipswich salvaged a point in their blockbuster Boxing Day Championship showdown against Leicester with an injury time leveller.

-  John Lyons

BOXING DAY ROUND-UP 

It looked as though the second-placed Tractor Boys were going to lose for the second time in four days when they trailed 1-0 to Stephy Mavididi’s fine curled finish on 24 minutes, but they got a stroke of fortune at the death.

Sam Morsy shot from range and the ball deflected off first Ricardo Pereira and then Jannik Vestergaard to leave goalkeeper Mads Hermansen wrong-footed.

It was a cruel blow for the Foxes but just what Ipswich needed in front of a 29,410 crowd at an expectant Portman Road.

The draw left Leicester six points clear at the top, while the Blues held a five-point advantage over third-placed Southampton.

“I thought it was a good performance, I enjoyed the game,” Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna told BBC Radio Suffolk. “It was two good teams and a really strong opponent for us to measure ourselves up against - and I thought we measured up well.

“It was nice to get the goal at the end to reward a lot of good work that went in. It’s a point at the end of the day but we’ll certainly take confidence from the performance and really try to build on that.”

His Leicester counterpart Enzo Maresca remained upbeat despite seeing a precious victory snatched away at BLU the death. “I’m not disappointed, to be honest,” he insisted. “Overall I’m quite happy. Playing every three days with the same intensity is not easy, so we knew that at some moment in the game we could drop a little bit.

Chances