McKenna: Hopefully the Atmosphere Helps Push Us Towards the Performance We Want Friday, 30th Sep 2022 17:05 Town host Portsmouth in a second-v-third clash at Portman Road on Saturday afternoon in front of a crowd in excess of 28,000 with manager Kieran McKenna hoping fans will play a part in helping their side to victory. The Blues go into the match having suffered defeat in the league for the first time this season at Plymouth last Sunday with the Hampshire club now the only unbeaten side in the League One. McKenna says he and his players are looking forward to getting back into league action at Portman Road after a gap of two and a half weeks. “We really are,” the Blues boss said. “We’ve had a couple of weeks away from home now and it’s going to be great to get back to Portman Road. “We finished in the league with a really enjoyable game against Bristol Rovers [which ended 2-0 to the Blues] and the atmosphere at home has been fantastic. “A big game, two good teams, two big clubs and can’t wait to go head to head on Saturday.” The expected crowd of more than 28,000 will be the biggest of the season so far with the match the first of the three #PackOutPR games. “It’s a great effort,” McKenna added. “Well done to the club for the promotion and the way they’ve packaged that up. “That obviously helps people at a time when people need a little bit of help, so that’s played a good part of it. “Credit to the supporters for coming out in their numbers every week and it’s going to be great to see the stadium with that extra few thousand in there, even on top of what we had, and it should make for a fantastic atmosphere.” The previous biggest attendance was the 29,005 for the Sunderland game last December when the club ran a similar promotion with McKenna watching from the directors’ box having been appointed a couple of days previously and interim-boss John McGreal in charge. “It was fantastic,” McKenna recalled. “Obviously with it being close to Christmas time, it was dark and with the floodlights and the flags and the atmosphere, it was really special. Hopefully we can recreate some of that tomorrow. “We want the game and the performance to match that and to be the most important thing in the day, but I think that can only help and we’re delighted to have that support and we can’t wait to get there and feel that atmosphere and hopefully that atmosphere helps push us towards a performance we want.” McKenna hopes his team can feed off the atmosphere: “Of course, and the game isn’t going to go all our way. There are going to be periods for both teams, so we need the crowd in all the moments. “Certainly, the extra push when things are going our way and when we’ve got momentum is a big boost for us and can be difficult for the opposition. “But also in the times when something doesn’t go our way and something goes against us, that’s maybe especially when the players can get a boost from the home crowd pushing them on. “So it’s about everyone working together in unison. It’s about us who are responsible for putting the team out on the pitch, going and putting in a performance that the crowd can get behind. “And it’s about the crowd getting right behind a group of players who are going to be giving their absolute all and working together to make a difficult place for opponents to play and a really enjoyable place for our players to step on that pitch, be positive, try and attack each game and get three points.”  Portsmouth are third in League One behind the Blues on alphabetical order having played one game fewer, their scheduled match at home to Bolton last week having been called off due to Wanderers international calls. Away from home this season, Pompey have won three - at Cheltenham, Port Vale and Burton - and drawn one, 3-3 on the opening day at Sheffield Wednesday. “They’ve definitely improved the team,” McKenna continued. “I think they’re where we would have expected them to be. “They’ve got a really strong squad and a good manager [Danny Cowley] who knows the level and who has had a few seasons there now, so he’s built and improved the team as they’ve gone on. And they’ve had a positive start and they are going to be a tough opponent. “So we’ve obviously spent this week analysing them and where they are strong and making sure that we’re ready for that. “Of course, they’ve had a good couple of weeks to have a look at us and analyse ourselves and I’m sure both teams will be ready and have a game plan and will be looking to impose themselves on the pitch.” Is Portsmouth having had last weekend off a positive from their perspective or would it have been better for them to have maintained their rhythm going into this week’s match? “I think it’s impossible to say,” McKenna considered. “It goes both ways and in football down the years you have things like this. International weeks at this level, there’s been incidents with Covid, it seems in the last few years there’s maybe been extra reasons for games to be cancelled. “And sometimes teams come out of the rest with a boost and sometimes come out of the rest with a lack of momentum and struggling to pick up where they left off. “So, who knows? Certainly, from our point of view, physically, the boys who are injury-free are in good nick. We’re fit and ready, and we’re happy to have the games and ready for each one as it comes.”
McKenna says the recently-postponed Cambridge game having been rearranged for Tuesday hasn’t led to a change in his team selection for Saturday’s match. “No, our focus has to be on the next game every week and certainly in this game when you’ve got such a big game and a difficult opponent,” he continued. “Obviously, Tuesday is another big game with three points available for both, the same three points that will be available next week against Morecambe. “We’ve had a good six days since the Plymouth game and we’re ready and looking forward to Saturday. So we will go at the game as hard as we can with what we think is the best team.” Whatever the result on Saturday, with a long season still to play out, it won’t dictate the outcome of either side’s season and McKenna says there is a danger of overstating individual matches at this stage. “I think there is in terms of the opponents you’re up against,” he reflected. “I think it’s about three points. It’s the same three points on Saturday as it is on Tuesday, as it is next Saturday and it is the week after that. “Of course, late in the season it becomes extra important to beat the teams who are close by you because then it’s really settling towards what positions teams are going to be in, but for now I think nobody has any idea who’s going to be at the top of the league, who’s going to be in the play-offs, who’s going to be below that there’s been such a small number of games. “It’s now it’s three points at a time. Of course we’d like to get the three points but we really want to get the three points on Tuesday night and we really want to get the three points at Morecambe next weekend and I don’t think there can be any bigger focus or effort for us for any of those games. “It’s about maximum effort, maximum focus for everyone and getting as many good performances and as many points as we can.” Christian Walton will continue in goal but McKenna could look at a change to his back three with Richard Keogh perhaps coming in for his first league start for George Edmundson, whose error led to Plymouth’s second goal last week. If he does start, Keogh would probably come into the centre with Janoi Donacien to his right and Luke Woolfenden moving to the left. Wes Burns will return wide on the right having been away on international duty, with Leif Davis on the left. Skipper Sam Morsy will be joined by Lee Evans in central midfield with ex-Pompey pair Conor Chaplin and Marcus Harness likely to be behind lone striker Freddie Ladapo, who will be looking to add to last week’s first league goal for the Blues.
Pompey boss Cowley says Town are widely tipped for one of this season’s top-two spots. “Everybody in the division anticipates Ipswich making the automatic promotion places,” Cowley told the Portsmouth News. “It’s the players they have, how well coached they are, the way they have started the season. If you finish close to Ipswich then you’ll probably have had a very good season. “They’re probably doing it in a different way to us, they’ve had the opportunity to recruit some of the best players from their rivals, such as taking Marcus Harness from us. “He was a key player last year, it wouldn’t have been our preference to sell to one of our rivals, of course. “But when we looked at the finances involved and the rewards for us, we decided to focus on us rather than worry about our opponents. It was a really good piece of business for us and allowed us to improve as a team. “Ipswich have good players, not just top players in this division, but are able to take top players from the division above as well. “They are doing it in a slightly different way from us, it’s a slightly different strategy, we know what we’re trying to achieve and every club has different ways of trying to be successful. But we are a team which is a work in progress, we’re trying to improve every day.” Midfielder Tom Lowery (hamstring), winger Michael Jacobs (groin) and Joe Rafferty (illness) are all set to be in the Pompey squad having returned to training this week. Historically, the Blues have won 20 games between the two clubs (19 in the league, one in the League Cup), 13 have been draws (12 in the league) and Pompey have won 16 (12 in the league). In March at Portman Road, Macauley Bonne saw a late goal disallowed as Town and Portsmouth drew 0-0. The Blues had been the better side for the most part against a frustrating and determined Pompey team and thought Bonne had won it in the 88th minute only for a linesman to incorrectly raise a flag. In October last year at Fratton Park, Bonne, Chaplin, Sone Aluko and Burns were on target in a 4-0 Blues win. Bonne gave Town the lead with his 10th goal of the season four minutes before the break when he embarrassed home keeper Gavin Bazunu, then Chaplin netted against his old side on 54 and Aluko made it 3-0 four minutes later, before Burns added the fourth in the 75th to complete the rout. Blues forward Chaplin joined Pompey as a six-year-old and progressed through their youth ranks into the first team before leaving to join Coventry in January 2019. He made 36 starts and 86 sub appearances, scoring 25 times. Fellow forward Harness was with Pompey from July 2019 until this summer when he joined the Blues, making 117 starts and 17 sub appearances, scoring 31 times. Recent signing Gassan Ahadme, who has a foot injury and is sidelined, spent the first half of last season on loan with Portsmouth, scoring once in six starts and four sub appearances. Town striker Joe Pigott is on loan at Fratton Park for the season and is ineligible for Saturday’s game. He has scored twice in five starts and six sub appearances so far this season. Pompey winger Jacobs came close to joining Town in the summer of 2021 but, having passed a medical and with personal terms agreed, the Blues pulled the plug on the deal and opted to sign Kyle Edwards instead. Portsmouth midfielder Ryan Tunnicliffe spent 2013/14 on loan at Town from Manchester United, making 24 starts and five sub appearances without scoring.
Saturday’s referee is Charles Breakspear from Surrey, who has shown 40 yellow cards and four red cards in 11 games so far this season. Breakspear’s last Town match was the 4-0 thrashing of Charlton on the final day of last season in which he yellow-carded only one Addick. Earlier that season, he refereed the 2-1 Papa Johns Trophy defeat at home to West Ham’s U21s in which he red-carded Pierre Ekwah from the Hammers and booked two of his team-mates as well as Blues captain Morsy, Tomas Holy and Albie Armin. Prior to that he was in charge of the 1-0 home defeat to Sunderland at Portman Road in January 2021 in which he red-carded Kayden Jackson in only the 10th minute for a reckless challenge on Black Cats defender Bailey Wright. Andre Dozzell, Stephen Ward and one of the visitors were booked. Breakspear also refereed the the 2-0 Papa Johns Trophy victory over Gillingham at Portman Road in October 2020 in which he yellow-carded Armando Dobra, Liam Gibbs and three Gills. Before that he was in the middle for the Blues’ 4-1 home victory over Burton in the preceding February in which he booked Jon Nolan and Luke Garbutt. His previous Town match had also ended in a 4-1 victory to Town, over Accrington Stanley a month earlier, in which he booked Luke Chambers and one of the visitors. Prior to that he was the fourth official on the end of Cardiff defender Sol Bamba’s outburst which led to his red card when the Bluebirds visited Portman Road in December 2016. Breakspear refereed the 1-0 Carabao Cup defeat to Stevenage at Portman Road in August 2016 in which he booked Tommy Smith and two Boro players. He was also in charge of the 1-0 defeat at QPR in February of the same year in which he yellow-carded Kevin Bru and two home players. Before that, he officiated in the 0-0 home draw with Wigan in January 2015 in which he booked Smith and three Latics. He also took control of the 1-0 home victory over Bolton in February 2014, the winning goal a 55th-minute David McGoldrick penalty awarded after the striker had been hauled back by Trotters’ keeper Andy Lonergan, who had dropped a high ball. Squad from: Walton, Hladky, Donacien, Woolfenden, Edmundson, Keogh, Burns, Vincent-Young, Davis, Morsy (c), Evans, Ball, Harness, Edwards, Humphreys, Chaplin, John-Jules, Ladapo, Jackson.
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