Wigan Athletic chief reacts to Ipswich Town draw

Latics had seen Will Keane's opening goal cancelled out by Conor Chaplin, before Morsy slammed home from close range with 17 minutes to go.

But the visitors regrouped and Keane popped up with his second goal on 86 minutes to earn his side a point - and strengthen their position on top of League One.

"It was exactly the kind of game we expected," said Richardson.

"You come here to a really good club, a really good team, who play good football, with very good energy levels.

"Out of possession we had to be at our best, in possession we were probably not as fluent as we have been.

"That's understandable at this time of the season, with what's at stake.

"We knew they'd dominate large parts of the game, but it was always going to be how we responded in and around that.

"They ask you a lot of questions, but I thought we remained a threat on the counter attack all night.

"We probably only started playing as we know we can when we went 2-1 down.

"But with the efforts the lads put in, we were good value for the result."

Richardson was in much lighter spirits than he had been when Morsy put the Tractor Boys ahead in the final quarter.

"I was thinking 'I'm gonna strangle him', to be fair," revealed the Latics boss.

"Look, I've worked with Sam over numerous years, and he's such a good player.

"He's a real leader, but he's never really been a goalscorer.

"If you arrive in the box, you're going to get chances like that, and I thought he was excellent tonight, along with a few of their players."

Latics' point was even more precious with second-placed MK Dons and third-placed Rotherham losing to Oxford and Burton respectively.

In the end, one more goal from Latics would have secured promotion - but Richardson says he wasn't overly concerned with what was happening elsewhere.

"No, no, it was just at the end when we found out," he said. "I think you can overthink and over assess things sometimes if you give it too much thought.

"We've worked hard enough this year to put ourselves in a position where we're in control of our own destiny.

"If you get sidetracked, you can quickly get whacked about the side of the head, so we'll just keep focusing on ourselves."