Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna admitted it was a solid display as his team beat Plymouth Argyle 2-0 at Home Park in tough conditions for both sides on Saturday afternoon.
This result takes Town to within three points of Leicester City and the top of the Championship table. The Foxes suffered a huge shock of their own, going down 2-1 to relegation-threatened Queens Park Rangers at the King Power Stadium.
Argyle came into the clash in bad form following three defeats in their last five games and are now just two points off the bottom three. However, in contrast, it is the Tractor Boys’ fifth win in a row and they now have a two-point gap on Leeds United in third, as the West Yorkshire side faltered to a draw at local rivals Huddersfield Town in the lunchtime kick-off.
Top scorer Conor Chaplin had his effort turned into his own net by Pilgrims defender Brendan Galloway to open the scoring. Kieffer Moore then scored with a lovely strike with 16 minutes remaining to make the points safe for the Suffolk side.
Ipswich now have several games against favourable opponents, beginning with Tuesday evening’s game as they host Bristol City. Those games come before a crunch showdown with fellow promotion-chasers Southampton at the beginning of April in a game that could define either sides season.
The Ex-Manchester United coach, who was appointed in 2021, is aiming for his second successive promotion after a second-placed finish in League One last season.
Speaking to the Ipswich Star, McKenna was delighted with the result:
“It was a really solid performance in all phases. I thought our organisation was good, our discipline was good, we were really competitive. We came out on top in more of our fair share of challenges and gave ourselves a really good foothold in the game.
“In the first half, we knew it was going to be difficult. We knew we’d have to stand up to a really strong home atmosphere and we had to stand up in difficult conditions, weather and pitch wise.
“We did that really well and that gave us a really good platform at half time to know that we could and would push on in the second half if we kept doing the right things and kept limiting their threats. We knew the chances would come our way, and we managed to take a couple and deliver a really good second-half performance.
“We haven’t had too many games like today. It was quite stop-start, Plymouth played quite closed with all their kicks, stuff like that.
“We always back our fitness and our style to come out in a game at some point. It wasn’t easy to bring it out in the first half, but we still had a couple of good build-ups through the pitch, but it wasn’t easy to get control of rhythm in the game.
“Usually we’ll find a period at some point in the game. We really felt comfortable at half time that it’d come in the second half. Obviously the (first) goal took a really big deflection, but up until that point, we were really starting to put pressure on their penalty area and their goal.
“It felt like it was coming.”
Writer’s View
Ipswich have been consistent all season, always in and around the top four. They’ve definitely overachieved in some people’s eyes but some of that is down to the players and credit must also go to the management and the board.
McKenna and the players have definitely been backed and you would now almost expect the Tractor Boys’ to be in the Premier League next season, given their form and consistency. The only worry would be if the Irishman was to be ‘poached’ by a ‘bigger club’ sooner than the end of the season, although that is unlikely.
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