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Burns: If I Could Bottle That Feeling I’d Be a Millionaire - Ipswich Town News

Wes Burns's goal was the difference between Ipswich Town and Derby County on Friday night and the feeling of scoring in front of a packed-out Portman Road in a big game was a special moment for the Welsh international.

The 67th-minute winner in front of 28,415 fans came after Kayden Jackson had struck the post when a goal looked almost inevitable. However, Burns was in the right place at the right time and calmly fired home his third goal of the season to seal a rare victory in front of the Sky cameras.

The win puts pressure on the teams around Town going into the weekend and, like the rest of us, Burns will be watching the scores roll in come Saturday afternoon.

The Blues, who wore their blackout third kit for the first time against the Rams, are second, now a point behind Plymouth and four in front of Sheffield Wednesday in third.

"To get our three points early in the weekend on a Friday night really piles on the pressure on the teams around us,” Burns began. "It's always better to have the points on the board than have the games in hand.

"I think we've seen that with Portsmouth's recent form. Everyone says they've got games in hand, but I think everyone would rather have the points than games in hand, so tonight was brilliant for us.

"I think we have to [keep tabs on other teams], to be honest. We always say we focus on ourselves and we focus on each game as it comes, but it's natural to keep an eye on those around us.

"So tomorrow we'll be in for recovery ready for Tuesday, but it will be nice for us to be at home watching the results come in."

On his goal, he continued: "If I could bottle it up and sell it, I'd be a millionaire because that feeling is amazing. There's nothing like scoring at home in front of your home crowd in such a big game like tonight, it's unbelievable.

"I was more in the middle of the goal, ready to celebrate with Jacko [Jackson]. He was unlucky tonight, he's worked his socks off, he's a credit to himself and he works hard every day. And no wonder when we ask him to put in a shift for the lads, he does it.

"He was very unlucky. He was unlucky not to score and unlucky with his pen, but on another night he could have scored a hat-trick, so it's just one of those nights.”

Town had to persevere with Jackson's missed penalty triggering a tense ending. However, in those dying minutes, the fitness instilled in the squad by manager Kieran McKenna saw the squad come through.

"To be fair, it's not even just going back to the summer and what we did in pre-season, it’s a weekly thing, it's a daily thing for us and the boss nails it into us every single day in training, and we train hard,” Burns explained.

"I've said before that I'm confident we're the hardest-working team in the league and that shows on nights like tonight when we have to dig deep, and it pays us back.

"I think we try and impose our style on every game and that high counter-press, whenever we lose the ball high up the pitch, is kind of paying us back massively in most games now.

"I think you can see in a lot of games where we're winning the ball higher up and it's creating chances and creating goals. When it pays off, it makes us want to do it even more and we work hard on that every day.”

With an away game against Port Vale on Tuesday, attention is already turning to who will replace the suspended Sam Morsy in the centre of midfield, the Egyptian international having picked up his fifth booking of the season against the Rams.

Town are no strangers to rotation, but even though replacing the captain and his influence on the field won't be easy, Burns believes the squad has the depth to cope.

"It's a weird one with Sam because you want him to play on the edge like that, and that's when he gets the best out of himself, but he will be a massive miss,” he reflected.

"The squad has depth and we have players who are ready to step into that role, so he will be a massive miss, but no doubt whoever comes in will play exceptionally well.

"I think that's credit to everyone in the squad. Everyone is always ready to play their part. It's not just the starting XI that's important, it's every single player, the boys that aren't even involved tonight, it's going back to Cam [Burgess], Gassan [Ahadme] and Panutche [Camara], who are all sidelined at the moment.

"They'll all be coming back into training and it's a squad effort on a daily basis, and that's really what is going to get us over the line.”

On the candidates to replace Morsy, with Lee Evans also potentially absent from the centre of midfield having suffered a knee injury last night, Burns continued: "He's [Cameron Humphreys] unbelievable, to be fair. Another one that comes in every day keeps his head down and works his socks off. No doubt, if he gets his chance, he takes it with both hands, and even going to the Cambridge game on Tuesday, I thought he was exceptional.

"Panutche, when he came on at half-time, I thought he was brilliant as well, so he's not too far away and he could be one that we rely on as well.

"But Bally [Dominic Ball] I think has been quite unlucky with a couple of injuries that he's picked up just before the season and his time is obviously going to come now, and let's hope he grabs it with both hands.”

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