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McKenna: Adding to Our Set-Play Coaching Was Really Important - Ipswich Town News

Town boss Kieran McKenna has been outlining set-piece coach Mark Hudson’s role at the club, the former Crystal Palace, Cardiff and Huddersfield defender, and one-time Bluebirds manager, having joined the club in the summer.

Following the 2-2 draw with Aston Villa on Sunday, left-back Leif Davis praised 42-year-old Hudson’s contribution since he took on his position in pre-season.

"Mark’s been a good addition,” McKenna said. "He’s someone who I didn’t know very well, [assistant manager] Martyn Pert knew a little bit more, but he came in and spent some time with us over the last couple of years on study visits and things like that.

"A good man, good football experience, really, really humble and hungry to learn from other people and brings good experience as a captain, as a defender, as a player who has been promoted a few times and been part of newly promoted teams to the Premier League. He brings a good range of experience.

"Developing and adding to our set-play coaching this year was always going to be really important for us, so we’ve done that in a lot of different areas. I don’t like to dissect them too much publicly.

"Mark, of course, with his experience, helps mostly with defensive set plays and has been working really hard alongside some of the other staff on those, but also all of our coaching staff work across all areas, and we like to think we share a responsibility across team development, unit development, individual development and all aspects of us as a team.

"Mark, as well as all the other coaching staff, are working really, really hard to keep pushing us forward in all areas and we’re happy to have him here and I think the coaching staff’s working really, really well again.”


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