Ipswich were held by Bristol Rovers to a goalless draw on Valentine’s Day, for what was the Tractor Boys’ third straight draw that has seen them drop to fourth in the League One table.
McKenna revealed after the game that Barton came up to him and apologised for the way he set up his team to stay back against Ipswich.
However, Barton has now revealed that he was not apologising for the way his team played, but because he knew his team could not take on Ipswich, stressing that he was proud of the way his team handled the Blues.
Barton thinks that McKenna is feeling the heat as he is at risk of falling behind in the automatic promotion race while Ipswich have rivals for the playoff places as well, a fact that Barton sought to exploit in their midweek meeting.
“I just went to him at the end of the game and said ‘Sorry we couldn’t take you on’”, Barton was quoted as saying by Bristol Live.
“That’s what it meant, I wasn’t apologising for the way we played.
“I thought we were excellent in our strategy and really got the best opportunity to win the game by going the way we did.
“We were far from parking the bus.
“It was a mid-to-deep block with some triggers we felt we could catch them on and expose them higher up the field.
“To be fair to Kieran, he’s probably worried about four wins in 15 with a £15million budget in League One and Sheffield Wednesday and Plymouth pulling away and Derby, Wycombe, Barnsley, Bolton and the group chasing closing in on them.
“He’s a man under pressure.
“I could smell that on them and I knew that before with the results profile.”
For the Gas, the goalless draw against Ipswich was welcome relief as they had lost their previous four league games, conceding ten goals.
