McKenna: Once We Win a Game or Two, the Narrative and Situation Look Very Different Monday, 23rd Jan 2023 16:00 Town host improving Morecambe at Portman Road on Tuesday evening aiming to restore their momentum following Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at Oxford United and a run in which they’ve won only one of their last six matches in League One. Blues boss Kieran McKenna was frustrated by his side failing to take their chances at the Kassam Stadium as well as the game not having been abandoned due to the fog and is pleased that his team is quickly back in action against the Shrimps in a rearranged fixture which was postponed due to Town’s progress into round three of the FA Cup earlier this month. The Blues remain third in the table, but now seven points behind second-placed Sheffield Wednesday, whose game at Cheltenham has been postponed, and 10 off leaders Plymouth, who have no midweek fixture. “Looking forward to tomorrow night,” McKenna told iFollow Ipswich. “It’s good for the game to come around so quickly when you have a disappointing result like we did on Saturday. You want the next one to come quick and we’ve got that this week and it’s all eyes on Morecambe.” The Shrimps last played a game on Saturday 7th January with their subsequent matches at Cambridge and at home to Port Vale having been postponed. However, the Lancastrians, who are 21st in the division, have won their last three matches, all at home, a 2-1 victory over Cheltenham in their most recent fixture, a 5-0 thrashing of Burton and a 2-0 success against Accrington. Prior to that, they’d gone 11 games in all competitions without a win, eight in the league. On their travels this season, they have won once, 2-1 at Forest Green Rovers in September, have drawn four and lost seven. “It shows how quickly you can gather or lose momentum in the league,” McKenna said regarding the Shrimps’ recent run. “They were bottom and have won three games in a row and have put in a couple of good performances and good results. “It’s strange that they haven’t played for two and a half weeks, but that can go one way or the other. “Our focus is just on ourselves. We know Morecambe will come here, they’re fighting for points for one reason, we’re fighting for points for another reason. “We know that it’s very rare that you’re going to get an easy game in this league and certainly for us every game is going to bring a challenge and we have to be ready for that. That’s where our focus is going and that’s what we’ll be looking to do tomorrow night.” McKenna says it’s important to build momentum: “In a 46-game season you’re going to have it and not have it. Of course, when you’re winning more, things come a little bit easier and things tend to go your way. “And when you haven’t won as much as you’d like, you have to work hard and keep focused, keep believing, keep doing the right things and trusting that you’re not far away from getting results. And when you get a win, everybody feels better. “We know that they don’t come easy, there’s no win given easily to us in this league and we’re going to have to fight for it but we know that once we win a game or two then the narrative and the situation looks very different because we know we’re not far away, we know that performances-wise we’re not far away, we know we have quality and spirit and mentality in the group. “I think it’s really important to keep perspective but we know that we need to push and get some points on the board. “Everyone’s mind is on that and we have to take that into the next game and the next game is Morecambe and after that we can look at what’s coming next.” Despite the recent run, the Blues’ performance levels have been good for the most part. Quizzed on whether his message to the players has been to just keep doing what they’ve been doing, he reflected: “It’s a balance. You have to keep doing the things you’re doing well. “On Saturday, we scored a fantastic goal in as difficult a situation and circumstances as you’re going to get in a football match. We scored a fantastic team goal, we created other really good opportunities from different types of play. “You have to keep doing what you’re doing well and not come away from that but there’s always things to improve and there are certainly things for us to improve at the moment and we’re looking and speaking about them as well. “No matter what the results are, you’re always looking at what you’re doing well to maintain that and also the areas that you need to improve and we’ve got both of those at the moment.” Looking back at the 2-1 win at Morecambe in October, he added: “It was a tough game, they went really aggressive against us in terms of pressing high, which at the time we didn’t expect, to be honest. “And they went quite man to man, one of the only teams who had done it. We’ve experienced it in the last couple of games with teams who have tried to stop us by just going man to man and marking everyone apart from the goalkeeper. It presents a different of game, it makes it a different challenge. “They did that in the away game at their place and it caught us a little bit on the back foot at the start of the game because they came out of the blocks with a real intensity and it took us a little while to get to grips with that. “But when we’d done that, we thought it was a good performance in the later stages of the first half and the second half. “How that affects this game, who knows? It’s not a position where I’m going to spend too much of my time or energy second-guessing what Morecambe are going to do, how proactive they’re going to be. “We’ve faced all different types of strategy over the season, so we should be getting to the level of experience now where we can adapt pretty quickly in games and see what the opposition are doing and we’ll be ready for whatever comes our way.”
McKenna felt that the atmosphere created by the 29,000-plus crowd at the last home match against leaders Plymouth was the best since he took charge and the Northern Irishman says the Portman Road faithful will have their part to play again on Tuesday. “The onus is on us to put in the performance and get the result,” he said. “I know there are going to be good numbers there for a Tuesday night and I’m sure a good atmosphere, and hopefully again the game can back up the support and we can send everyone home happy with a win.” McKenna could well look at switching some of his personnel following Saturday’s disappointment. Harry Clarke could be in line for his full debut on the right of the defence with George Edmundson perhaps also vying with current incumbents Luke Woolfenden and Cameron Burgess for a place in the side. Christian Walton will again be in goal. Leif Davis and Wes Burns are likely to continue in the wide roles and skipper Sam Morsy and Lee Evans in central midfield. Nathan Broadhead could be handed his full debut as one of the number 10s alongside top scorer Conor Chaplin with George Hirst perhaps again the central striker unless it’s felt the on-loan Leicester man isn’t ready for two starts in four days in which case Freddie Ladapo would probably get the nod. McKenna is again likely to make changes on his bench as he tries to keep everyone in his increased squad involved on matchdays. Morecambe manager Derek Adams admits having their last two games called off has been far from ideal. “Very frustrating,” he told the Shrimps official website. “Last week against Cambridge, the game was off due to structural damage, this week the game [at home to Port Vale] was off on Saturday due to a frozen pitch and we’ve had to train during that couple of weeks after coming off the three wins we’ve had in recent times. We’re just looking forward now to a game on Tuesday night.”
Despite their recent decent form and the Blues’ indifferent spell, Adams knows his side will have a tough evening at Portman Road. “Really difficult,” he said. They’ve strengthened the squad in this transfer window already, spent a bit of money on that, and they’re one of the ones that want to get out of this division, back into the Championship. We’re a squad and a club which wants to continue playing League One football next year.” He added: “Their budget in total is five times the budget that we have. They’re one of the superpowers in this division, they’ll have 26-29,000 at the stadium on Tuesday night, but something that Morecambe Football Club wanted to do was get out of League Two, get into League One and play against these teams.” Adams says his side will go into the match with self-belief following their three victories: “We go to a different venue but we’ve got great confidence because we’ve won three games on the trot and we’ve scored goals. “We can open up defences if we’re given that opportunity, we’ve got players to do that. We’ve got players on the bench now that come off the bench and score goals and create openings as well. “The beauty of going there is that with Ipswich we all know the pressure they’re under to get out of the division and we’re going there trying to get the win which would move us further up the league.” Adams recalls seeing Town during their glory days: “I remember in the 1980s watching Ipswich Town play in the UEFA Cup against Aberdeen with the great team that they had with the Gateses, the Warks, the Butchers, the Millses, the Osmans, they were a fantastic team with Bobby Robson their manager at the time. “They’re a superpower that has fallen away down the divisions over the years but for Morecambe Football Club, from where they’ve come from, going in the opposite direction with an upward momentum, we’re delighted to be in this division and playing against one of the biggest teams in English football.” Midfielder Jake Taylor, defender Max Melbourne and striker Courtney Duffus are on their way back from injuries but not ready to be involved against the Blues. Last season’s meetings between the clubs, which both ended in draws, were the first in the league, although the Blues previously made the long trip to the North-West for an FA Cup third round tie at the Shrimps’ old ground Christie Park in January 2001, when Town, then fourth in the Premier League, beat the non-league Shrimps 3-0. The teams also met in the FA Cup at the same stage at Portman Road two years later with Town winning 4-0. Overall, Town have won three (one in the league) drawn two (two) and are still to fall to a defeat to the Shrimps. In this season’s first meeting at the Mazuma Stadium in October, Evans netted the second of two Blues penalties as Town came from behind to beat then-bottom Morecambe 2-1. Kieran Phillips gave the home side the lead in the 34th minute with the Blues under par in the first half. But, after Town had hit the woodwork three times, Edmundson equalised in the 54th minute, before Chaplin saw Town’s first penalty in nine months saved, however, Evans converted a second 10 minutes later to seal the three points. At Portman Road on the opening day of last season, debutant sub Macauley Bonne netted an injury-time leveller as the sides drew 2-2 in an entertaining encounter. Cole Stockton, who ultimately netted 26 times last season, put the visitors ahead on 22 before Scott Fraser levelled for the Blues in the 61st minute. Stockton was gifted a second on 72 before Bonne spared Town’s blushes right at the death. The Morecambe squad includes former Blues midfielder Shane McLoughlin, who moved to the Shrimps in the summer of 2021 from AFC Wimbledon. The Irishman joined the Town academy at 16 and made one senior start and one sub appearance for the Blues. Left-back Ryan Delaney spent time training with Town during their 2016 summer training camp at Carton House in Ireland before subsequently joining Burton from Wexford Youth. Town left-back Greg Leigh spent last season with Morecambe, making 38 starts and three sub appearances, scoring twice. Tuesday’s referee is David Rock from Hertfordshire, who has shown 60 yellow cards and three red in 17 games so far this season. Rock’s last Town match was the 1-0 home victory over Plymouth in March in which he yellow-carded winning goalscorer Morsy, Burns and one Pilgrim. He was also the man in the middle for the 2-2 home draw with AFC Wimbledon in August 2021 in which he awarded the Blues a penalty after Burns was felled by Will Nightingale, booked Vaclav Hladky and three of the visitors. Before that he was in charge of the 3-3 pre-season friendly draw at Colchester in July of the same year, as well as the 1-1 draw at MK Dons in October 2020 in which he cautioned Flynn Downes and two home players. Prior to that, Rock’s only previous Town fixture was as a replacement referee in the 3-0 defeat at Watford in March 2011. Having been the fourth official, Rock took over from fellow Hertfordshire whistler Grant Hegley in the 10th minute after he had suffered a hamstring injury, showing yellow cards to two Hornets and no Blues. Squad from: Walton, Hladky, Donacien, Clarke, Woolfenden, Edmundson, Keogh, Burgess, Burns, Vincent-Young, Davis, Leigh, Morsy, Evans, Luongo, Humphreys, Edwards, Chaplin, Harness, Aluko, Broadhead, Ladapo, Hirst, Jackson, Ahadme.
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