Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna hits out after foggy defeat at Oxford
Kieran McKenna says he would have been happy to abandon the game because of the 'ridiculous conditions' caused by fog
Last updated 23rd Jan 2023
Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna has revealed both he and Oxford manager Karl Robinson would have been happy to abandon Saturday's fog-affected game.
The match ended 2 - 1 to the hosts at the Kassam Stadium, with a late goal from Cameron Brannagan in the 83rd minute putting Oxford ahead.
The scores had been level at half time after Leif Davis netting his first professional goal to cancel out the Oxford opener.
However thick fog affected play throughout, with the players unable to see across the pitch during large parts of the game.
There were discussions about whether to call the match off because of the conditions although ultimately the full 90 minutes were played.
Speaking to the ITFC website, McKenna said: "I'm disappointed that the game was finished in ridiculous conditions at the end."
"We certainly couldn't see the ball from the sidelines and the players couldn't see it on the pitch.
"We made that clear to the referee, and there was a discussion around it, and I think the game should have been played on another day.
"Both Karl (Robinson) and I voiced our opinion to the fourth official at the start of the second half.
"We said we couldn't see the ball and there were mistakes on the pitch in account to that.
"We spoke to the referee in the 74th minute and again called the fourth official over. At that point both sets of staff and players had the feeling of 'let's come back and fight another day'.
"The referee said, though, that because the 75th minute had ticked past on the stopwatch that the result would have to stand and it would have to be a draw and there would be no replay.
"My team wanted to win so we thought 'we'll take our chances' and see if we could get the winner.
"The frustration and confusion is that our Club Secretary told us those aren't the rules and there is nothing in the rule book about that.
"The game should not have been played in those conditions."
Officials at Ipswich Town say they're now going to seek 'clarification' from football's governing bodies on the rules around matches being abandoned.
The 2 - 1 defeat leaves Town 3rd in the League One table and without a win in four games.