Ipswich Town first team coach Matt Gill says there are 'loads of positives' to take from this afternoon's 0-0 home draw with MK Dons.

The Blues have now had three goalless draws in the last four games and gone more than three hours without producing a shot on target.

Armando Dobra and Freddie Sears both spurned good chances in either half as Ipswich produced a performance that was improved, but ultimately still lacked goal threat.

Paul Cook's men remain eighth in the League One table and three points adrift of the play-off places with seven games now to go.

"I think there are loads of positives to take from today," said Gill. "Obviously we would have loved three points, but it's another point to where we want to get to and we'll try and take the good stuff from today into Tuesday night *at AFC Wimbledon).

"Obviously they are a very good footballing team, have got some really good attributes, but I think we coped with them pretty well today. We tried to have a punch going the other way and I think second half we stepped onto the game a bit better than we did first half.

"It's another clean sheet. We just need to be slightly better in the attacking half and show a little bit more care in moments where we can make better decisions maybe.

"We are working immensely hard to try and improve our attacking play. I think we are at a stage of the season where we want to keep clean sheets, of course, but we also need to have punch at the other end of the pitch. We tried something slightly different today with Aaron (Drinan) and Dobs (Armando Dobra), who did great, so that gives us another option.

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"The lads worked extremely hard, first and second half, and we need to take that into Tuesday night and the last seven games."

With Tomas Holy making a fine diving save from Andrew Surman in the second period, Gill saying: "It was a game of very few chances. Tomas is there to make saves and he did when called upon. So brilliant.

"I just think we need to add a little bit more care in the final third and that could have turned into three points today."

Tristan Nydam stepped off the bench in the second half to make his first competitive appearance in two years. It's been a long road back for the 21-year-old since his horror ankle break in the pre-season of 2019.

"The positive from today is Tristan," said Gill. "From being out all that time, everyone at the training ground has seen the hard work he has put into getting himself back. All credit to him and loads of praise should go to Matt Byard and (Tom) Walshy, the physios, that have done the hard yards with Tristan getting him back.

"Everyone in that dressing room was so pleased to have him back involved.

"There's no sentiment in anybody making an appearance for this football club. What we're involved in is too big. We need to be collecting points and wins between now and the end of the season.

"We were trying to press a little bit more second half, trying to get on that front foot a little bit more. Bish and Dozza done that superbly with Flynn first half. It's just about using the five subs, getting energy onto the pitch and using it to your advantage."

With Flynn Downes returning to the starting XI four weeks on from a hamstring injury, Gill said: "Yeah, he was brilliant wasn't he? Him as an addition is going to be a positive. It was really good to see him out there today."

Asked if the likes of James Norwood, Kayden Jackson and Kane Vincent-Young would be back in contention soon, Gill said: "They'll be assessed tomorrow when everyone is back in. As you can imagine everyone in the squad is fighting to get and to try and add some value over the run-in.

"It's seven games and a real opportunity to get ourselves in that play-off mix and go in with a little bit of momentum.

"We're carrying one or two knocks and the manager wanted to go with fit and firing players today, which is correct. We'll now reassess everyone for Tuesday.

"I've not had a chance to look at results today, but they had a big win didn't they? (AFC Wimbledon winning 5-1 at Accrington). It's an opportunity to get three points on the board. We'll go with the same mentality that we had today and take all the positiveness from today into Tuesday night."