Ipswich Town full-back Leif Davis felt their 3-2 comeback victory against Bristol City at Portman Road once again showcased the mental strength Kieran McKenna’s squad possesses – with his two assists leaving him ‘buzzing’ to equal a league record.

The Blues’ winning run and their position in second automatic promotion spot in the Sky Bet Championship looked under serious threat when Liam Manning’s mid-table side went ahead on two occasions, via Anis Mehmeti (54) and Tommy Conway (78).

But Town came up with the answers despite a lacklustre opening hour, with Ali Al-Hamadi’s touch on Davis’s shot (62) followed by Conor Chaplin’s header from his free-kick (80) to take him to 14 for the season, the joint-most from a defender in a single Championship season.

And after Al-Hamadi had squandered the chance to put them ahead from a penalty that was saved by Max O’Leary, it was Davis who came up with the winner in the 89th minute, drilling home from an angle in the box for his first goal of the season to cap his fine night.

“It was a good game to be involved in, a difficult game,” said the 24-year-old. “They’re a very well coached team, it was hard to break down in the first half but we knew what we could do.

“We obviously went behind, I made a mistake for the second goal but I know in myself that I’m mentally strong and I can get on with it and help the team with what we done there to get the three points. It was a tough game but I’m just buzzing we got the three points at the end of it.”

Although it was another comeback, it was far from the usual script Town fans have become familiar with in their side’s victories, with no goals in the first half followed by a flurry after the hour mark.

Davis said: “We found it hard to find the pockets in the middle of the pitch [in the first half] that we like to play from the midfielders and further up the pitch.

“But I think in the second half we didn’t let our heads drop and we kept fighting and two subs came on and changed the game as well.

“Wes [Burns] and Ali [Al-Hamadi] are both powerful players and we knew we could they could hurt the backline and Wes did that when he came on tonight and so did Ali.”

The quadruple substitution from Kieran McKenna on the hour mark sparked Town into life as an attacking force with Jeremy Sarmiento and Jack Taylor having also added dynamism.

“Everyone’s here for a reason and it’s just difficult that there’s only 11 players that can play,” Davis continued.

“But everyone that’s out there and comes on the pitch as well fights and gives their heart to do everything for the team.”

Town have now taken 28 points from losing positions, the most in the Championship with their latest triumph being another fine example of the never-say-die attitude built into McKenna’s players.

“That’s how strong a team we are mentally, we know we don’t let our heads drop, we always keep pushing,” said Davis.

“The togetherness of the team is very, very strong, we suffer together, we enjoy the good moments together and we’ve obviously come from behind again tonight.”

Put to him that there could not have been a better way to come up with his first goal of the season, he said: “Yes, I was still thinking about the mistake [for Conway’s goal] I made at the time as well, but I knew I couldn’t let it get to me too much.

“I know my qualities that I can do higher up the pitch as well and obviously I got my first goal and I was buzzing to take us into the lead again.”

He added: “I was buzzing after my shot against Plymouth the other day that went straight in the back of the stand! But the lads told me how good of a left foot I’ve got and just be composed and do what I do and place it in the net.

“When it fell to us I just thought I am going to place it and I did and it just fell perfect for me.”

His two assists saw him draw level with the record number for a full-back in the Championship at 14 with ex-Leeds United team-mate Barry Douglas (for Wolves 17/18) and Kieran Trippier (for Burnley 13/14), leaving him on the brink of setting a new benchmark.

“It’s a good achievement, I’m absolutely buzzing,” he said, having also hit 14 as the Blues earned promotion from League One last season.

“I know the person who had the record, Barry, and I had a message off him. It was a few months ago and he said ‘you’d better not break it’ and that gave me more motivation to go and break it and I’m delighted.

“The main thing is we get the three points at the end of it and keep fighting until the end of the season.”

Asked if they was any discussion about who should take the late penalty that Ali Al-Hamadi saw saved, he said: “No, not really. Ali scored his last penalty so we couldn’t change it, but he’s got a strong heart stepping up in front of that many people tonight and obviously on telly as well. I don’t think I could have done that!

“Everyone makes a mistake, well it wasn’t a mistake it was a good save from the keeper, but he’s mentally strong and he’ll not dwell on that.”

On Town winning six games on the bounce, which was the first time for the club in the second tier since their 1991/92 promotion-winning season to the inaugural Premier League, he said: “We don’t look at that, we take it game by game but it’s obviously a great achievement to get six on the bounce.

“But we just take it game by game and hopefully we can keep winning games and you never know what happens.”

Put to him that he must have thought he would have broken his goal duck earlier on in the game, with Al-Hamadi getting the final touch on his goalbound shot for the first equaliser, he outlined how he was just happy with the assist.
“For me I just want to help the team with everything; I want to create chances, I do want to get on the scoresheet but I do like creating chances,” he said.

“Obviously for the free kick as well, it just gives me a good feeling when I’m stepping over a free kick as I know it could be a big moment for us.

“Everyone just says ‘trust your left foot’. I’ve spoke with the staff about my deliveries as well and I’ve been working on it.

“They say just be confident as because they know how good I can be as well with delivering the ball into the box. I’m just buzzing to be fair.”

Davis agreed it was the experience of being in losing positions and coming through to win that gives the team belief to keep digging out results.

“Definitely, it’s happened a lot of times in the season and it just shows how strong we are together as a team.

“As well as the skipper everyone is a leader on the pitch as well communicating with each other. We all get ourselves going again and never let our heads drop.”

On the atmosphere in the dressing room, he said: “It was buzzing after the game but the three points is the three points and that’s what we want. It wasn’t our best performance but we still stuck at it and we dug the three points out.”

Next up for Town is another Sky Sports televised game with a 12.30pm kick-off at Cardiff City, with the 11th-placed Bluebirds looking to move into the top 10 when they host Huddersfield Town tonight.

“It’s going to be a tough game,” said Davis. “We’ll look at them on Thursday when we’re back in and analyse them and where we can hurt them and just go and try and deliver another performance.”

Photo: TWTD

Europablue added 11:07 - Mar 6 Davis allowed the cross to come in for their second goal, but why did Burgess let their player have a free header? It was a very good finish, but if he had any pressure on him it would have been very difficult to score. Anyway, everyone makes mistakes and it's great that all the players are making up for mistakes that they or their teammates made. I had a feeling that Al Hamadi would miss that one, maybe it was the body language. Still, I still believed that we would get one or two more good chances and so it proved. I actually fancied Leif to score, and was disappointed when Al Hamadi poached the goal, but looking at the replay, the defender would probably have cleared it off the line. We were all buzzing after that Leif!

2

BobbyBell added 11:13 - Mar 6 We make defensive mistakes but it's because we play positive football and take risks. We scored 3, hit the woodwork twice and missed a penalty so let's keep on doing what we do. Our reactions to set backs are just amazing.
8

barrystedmunds added 16:15 - Mar 6 Buzzin!
2

Blogs 295 bloggers

Ipswich Town Polls