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Chaplin: A Pleasing Day But the Focus Turns to Tuesday - Ipswich Town News

Hat-trick hero Conor Chaplin says the focus immediately turned to Tuesday night’s home game against Port Vale following today’s 6-0 thrashing of Charlton Athletic, which took the Blues back to second in the League One table, a point behind leaders Plymouth.

Chaplin netted the first three goals, his first treble for the club, to see Town on the way to their biggest win under manager Kieran McKenna.

The forward, who joined the Blues from Barnsley in the summer of 2021, has now scored 25 goals this season, 22 in the league.

"A good day all-round. A really good performance from the boys,” he told iFollow. "I thought we started the game fantastically well and carried it on throughout.

"I thought we were relentless, which is the way we want to be at home. Very proud of the boys today, but the focus moves straightaway to Tuesday. There’s no hangover from this, on to Tuesday straight away.”

Regarding his seventh-minute first goal, the 26-year-old, who has scored six goals in his last four games, said: "I probably should have shot a bit earlier when it opened up, took an extra touch as it was under my feet a little bit.

"Just found the gap somehow. Leif [Davis] finds me all the time, so I knew he was going to pick me out when I was in that much space.”

Regarding the second on 14 and third on 70, he added: "Broady [Nathan Broadhead]’s been doing that an awful lot. So much creativity in those pockets and when he drives through there’s so much quality.

"You can just run because you know he’s going to be able to find you, which is exactly what he did for the second two goals.”

The forward says the whole squad is more focused than at any time during the campaign: "Everyone has such desire to run towards the common goal at the moment. It’s been there the whole season but at the moment it feels different, everyone, it doesn’t matter who it is, everyone’s running for each other, everyone’s working.

"But it’s got to stay that way and I’m so confident that it will because we’ve got such a good dressing room. All the right messages from the staff as well. A pleasing day, but the focus turns to Tuesday straight away.”

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