Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna felt his team were the better side for an hour of tonight's 2-0 home defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion.

A fiercely competitive game of few clear cut chances got away from the Blues after Kaoru Mitoma's shot squirmed past Christian Walton in the 59th minute.

Substitute Georginio Rutter bagged a killer second in the 82nd minute meaning that Town have slipped below Wolves, and back into the Premier League relegation, on goals scored.

Town are back in the drop zone after defeat (Image: Steve Waller) Asked if he felt there was nothing between the sides up until the deadlock was broken, McKenna replied: "Exactly that. I thought it was, at best, evens. I thought we were the more threatening team. They had more possession, certainly in the early parts of the game, but not really in threatening areas. I thought we had more threat and got to better areas.

"We finished the first half strongly, I thought we started the second half even better and were the better team up until the point of their goal.

"That was the first real threat that we had on our goal. We didn't defend the situation as well as we would have liked and should have stopped the goal. That changed the game really.

"From our point of view it changed it disproportionately to what we'd want. I think we could have found a better reaction than what we did. It looked like our confidence dropped and theirs certainly went up. They've got very good substitutes that they brought on fresh and were the better team in the last 30 minutes."

In the 53rd minute of the game, with the score goalless, Brighton striker Joao Pedro jumped into Town keeper Walton with the ball long gone. It was a heavy collision, with many feeling the Brazilian could have seen red rather than yellow.

Joao Pedro clatters into Christian Walton (Image: PA) "I've not watched it back," said McKenna. "Look, I think he's left a little bit on the goalkeeper. I think he knows what he's doing. It is what it is. It's football, it happens. The referee dealt with it and gave a yellow card. It's not something we're going to cry about too much.

"Maybe it's worse than what I first thought. Was it a red card? I wasn't screaming for one at the time."

With Wolves, Leicester and Everton all losing last night, did McKenna feel this was a missed opportunity for his side?

"Not given the results last night, but more so due to the fact that we were in the game for so long," he replied.

"I think if Wes (Burns) scores with the shot that goes just past the post then you think 'yeah, we probably have just about earned that' in terms of the way we grew into the game.

"We've competed on an even keel with a really good side. If I'm honest, the game was much more even than when we played them earlier in the season (and drew 0-0). When you're in that position you want to push on in the game and get points from it.

"The way they took the game away late on probably changes the feel from what was a really competitive game we were in a really good position in."