Town boss Kieran McKenna was pleased with his side’s first-half display in their 3-1 home victory over Southend, but felt they took their eye off the ball in the second half.

Tyreece John-Jules, Greg Leigh and Freddie Ladapo netted the Blues’ goals against the Shrimpers.

“We were better in the first half than in the second, I think would be fair to say,” McKenna said. “I thought the first half was a really good game, I thought we played very well, really good intensity to the game.

“I thought Southend played well as well, so it made it a really good fixture. I liked lots of bits of our play, lots of penetration, pressure was really good, not threatened too much, lots of chances, so it was really good in the first half.

“Second half, not so good. A really good lesson for us in there, to be honest. A good one to have in pre-season.

“It’s been a pre-season of good lessons, to be honest, with the way the fixture programme has come out and some of the challenges and difficult games that we’ve had have been really good.

“Today was a good lesson for the group in a game where you think you’re really comfortable and you’re playing really well and you take your eye off the ball and think you can coast through it and the tide of the game can change, and that can certainly happened in the second half. And when you do that for a five or 10-minute spell, it’s hard to get that momentum back.

“We spoke about that in the dressing room at the end, that’s a really good one to come up at this stage because that’s going to be a massive point for us over the course of the season; how we maintain focus over the course of 46 games.

“We dropped that today after half-time, no doubt. Understandable in some ways, the players are thinking and looking towards Saturday once you get into the second half of the game it’s probably human nature but a good lesson for us in there.

“Overall a good night, good minutes in the players that needed minutes. A little run-out for some who haven’t had so much game time on Portman Road, three really good goals, three new goalscorers getting their first goals at Portman Road, no injuries and 23 players used, so a really good night.”

Regarding Dominic Ball’s absence, he added: “He trained yesterday but is still feeling the effects of it a little bit, he’s going to take a little bit more time than we first thought. It’s a knock on his ankle which he picked up in training last week before the Millwall game, so we’ll have to see how he is over the next few days.”

Photo: TWTD

Gforce added 23:07 - Jul 26 Looks like Ball is out for Saturday then,Evans it is then. Leigh will probably get the nod at left back and the rest of the team picks itself.(The side picked at Millwall)
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ipswich134 added 00:44 - Jul 27 I believe KM will pick different players with much depending on the opposition players.
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PortmanTerrorist added 10:35 - Jul 27 Love KMK understated arrogance. He fully expects us to dominate this season and occasionally get complacent as a result. Love it. Penney is the only real curiosity in pre season for me. Seems like KMK has given him every chance to be more attacking, but it just isn't him. However do wonder, even with Leigh coming in, if against stronger teams and even Bolton first game, he will start to give us a more solid base. We do have 5 subs so changes do not have to wait if things are not working.

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