Central defender Cameron Burgess will be making his first return to former club Accrington Stanley on Saturday when Town will be looking to emulate their 2-1 win there in March.

Caretaker boss Matt Gill led the Blues to a third successive win — to follow those over Hull and Doncaster — as new boss Paul Cook, whose appointment was announced earlier that day, enjoyed a watching brief at the Wham Stadium.

Stanley took a fourth minute lead through Dion Charles but lost Seamus Conneely to a red card in the 16th minute and Town took advantage as late first-half goals by James Wilson and James Norwood earned all three points.

Burgess, on the losing side on that occasion, will be hoping for a change of fortune as he heads back to the club where he spent only one season — and two games at the start of the current campaign — before opting to join Town on a three-year deal in August that saw Stanley pocket a fee of £750,000.

The 25-year-old said: “I’m really looking forward to it. They have had a pretty good start to the season, similar to last season when I was there, and I know they’ll be right at it.

“I’ve heard a few of their players speaking about the importance of having a good home record. We’ll be looking to go up there and spoil the party a bit and it will be good to see some old friends that I haven’t seen since I left.”

Burgess enjoyed his time at Accrington and agrees they deserve all the credit they receive for punching above their weight in League One, despite their modest resources.

For example, they are rooted to the bottom of the table when it comes to home attendances, their current average of just over 2,255 underlining their achievement in more than holding their own.

“From the size of the club you could definitely say they are punching above their weight in League One,” said Burgess, “but with the people involved in the running of the club, and having seen how it operates from within, I’m not surprised that they are where they are.

“It’s a great club and there are obviously a lot of connections with Ipswich — apart from me there’s the gaffer, Janoi [Donacien], Kayden [Jackson], Gary Roberts and Ian Craney, who will all say the same about it.

“It’s a mad place to go and be involved but nobody who knows the set-up and the people responsible will say they are surprised by the success they’ve had. They’ve been doing it for a while now, year in and year out, so they deserve great credit for that.”

Burgess is also unsurprised that ex-Accrington team-mate Roberts has settled in so well to his role as first team coach, having retired as a Stanley player to take up the offer from Cook seven months ago to return to Portman Road, where he was signed by then manager Jim Magilton in 2006, initially on loan, and going on to score four goals in his 59 appearances for the Blues.

He added: “Gary has a lot of experience as a player that he can pass on to all the lads. In training he is itching to get involved and he still has the technique. He came back to Accrington for a little while before he took the Ipswich opportunity and you could see during that period that he saw his future in coaching.

“I didn’t know him beforehand but it was clear that he was in the frame of mind where he wanted to stay in the game when he finished playing.

“He helps the players a lot and he does it in the right way. He’s obviously got some pedigree from the career he had as a player and he’s a good coach as well, an important member of the backroom team.

“We’re all learning from the coaching staff, which is how it should be. They’ve all got their own experiences and they’re all bringing something to the party.

“There’s a lot of attention to detail on different things and we work on the right things, which shows on the training ground. The sessions are top quality and the standard is very high.”

Photo: Pagepix

markchips added 13:30 - Oct 1 Great to see such positive feedback about Gary Roberts.
2

Ipswich Town Polls