Interim boss John McGreal believes the Town squad will be galvanised by new manager Kieran McKenna’s presence among the 29,000-plus crowd at Portman Road on Saturday as they take on Sunderland. McGreal will be in charge of the Blues for his fourth and final match but for the first time at home.

Town go into the match, the first of the successful #PackOutPR campaign, off the back of Wednesday’s embarrassing 2-0 FA Cup defeat at Barrow, but having recorded an impressive 1-1 draw away against League One’s second-placed side Wigan a week ago.

McGreal, like former manager Paul Cook, has highlighted the team's inconsistency and as such wouldn’t be at all surprised if the Blues followed up the dismal display at Holker Street with a victory over the Black Cats, who after a recent resurgence are up to third, behind the Latics on goal difference alone.

“No, I wouldn’t,” he reflected. “I said that at Barrow, the inconsistency levels have been there. There have been a few false dawns.

“I think now it’s a great game to have tomorrow. It’s going to be a brilliant occasion, but most importantly there are three points at stake and we need to get the win.

“I’m not saying anything apart from there’ll be a performance because the inconsistency levels have been there, we’ve been up and down, we were down on Wednesday, we were down at Charlton the other week, then we put in a really good performance at Wigan.

“I’ve got no doubt that the guys will be galvanised, they’ll apply themselves in the right way and put on a strong performance tomorrow. I’ve got no question of that whatsoever.”

As well as new manager McKenna, his assistant Martyn Pent, and in excess of 29,000 supporters, some of the Blues’ US investors will also be at Portman Road giving the players numerous reasons to put on a display.

“I don’t need to add anything on top of that, you’ve literally just wrapped that up in one sentence. You’ve just done my job. Thanks!” McGreal laughed.

Sunderland were very fortunate to beat the Blues 2-0 at the Stadium of Light last month, the Blues having missed a number of chances while preventing the Wearsiders from managing a single shot on target for the first 85 minutes of the match.

Since then, the Black Cats have gone on an unbeaten run of five in League One, three wins and two draws, with manager Lee Johnson’s position previously having come into question after a six-game winless streak which included three successive League One defeats.

“The analysis guys when we’ve gone over it, we had a little look at the game and that seemed to be a little bit of a turning point for Sunderland,” McGreal said.

“I think prior to that they weren’t in the best of form and they ended up nicking that win.

“But that’s four or five weeks ago. Obviously things have changed, a lot’s changed in that time, there’s a new manager now coming in on Monday, a new manager in the stands on Saturday watching.

“So there’s nothing much you can go back on because they’re a different team totally at this moment in time. The results have helped them of late and it’s made them turn a corner, so it’s a totally different team that we will be looking at tomorrow.”

Sunderland’s recent form shows that one result can turn into a run, something the Blues desperately need if they’re to push upwards from their current position of 12th, nine points off the play-offs and 14 away from the top two, with Saturday's match marking the season's halfway point.

“Absolutely,” McGreal concurred. “Every game’s three points. If you can get that win on the board, it makes a helluva difference going into your Christmas period where they do come thick and fast in the league.

“It’s a big game tomorrow, the guys know that with the occasion, but also it’s a big three points as well and we want to try and win the game.”

McGreal was asked whether there were members of the squad who needed lifting after the disappointment at Barrow on Wednesday.

“Not overly because the guys, they’re an experienced group,” he said. “It’s not as if they’re a young group, they’re an experienced group and when you’re not performing, if you’re honest with yourself and you do know that. So there are a lot of boys at this moment in time that we’re trying to pick up and give them game-time.

“But it’s going to be a fresh start. All we’ve tried to do is keep the club moving forward and pick a team to try and get results on the pitch, but also knowing that the new manager is in the background to come in.

“It’s going to be a fresh start from everyone and what we’ve tried to do is brighten up training in a way, brighten it up around the training ground, give game-time to certain players that haven’t played, so then when the new gaffer comes in he can look across the board and see what he’s got.”

Eleven-goal top scorer Macauley Bonne will be looking to end his eight-match goal drought in front of the new boss.

“That was part and parcel of what happened the other night,” McGreal said referring to the eight changes made at Barrow.

“He’s played a lot of games, scored a lot of goals early on. We’ve had a lot of niggling injuries in and around that top area.

“Macauley’s ready to go, he’s trained really well today, if selected because there are a lot of players that we can choose from, but he seems to be in a good place, to be fair.”

Bonne seems certain to start up front, probably again in a pairing alongside James Norwood, assuming neither of them are the players who have had to pull out of the squad due to close contact with those with Covid.

In midfield, skipper Sam Morsy and Lee Evans look set to return in the centre with Sone Aluko and Conor Chaplin perhaps taking up narrow roles ahead of them. Bersant Celina is another possibility for inclusion if he is over his injury, McGreal having kept his cards close to his chest on the fitness situation.

At the back, assuming they’re available, George Edmundson and Cameron Burgess look set to be the centre-halves with McGreal again likely to use Janoi Donacien and Kane Vincent-Young as the full-backs with Christian Walton in goal.

Sunderland left-back Denver Hume is in contention for a return to the squad having been out of action since October with an ankle injury.

Another full-back, Dennis Cirkin, and midfielder Corry Evans aren’t yet ready to be involved following a double hernia operation and a quad injury respectively, while midfielder Lynden Gooch is set for a late fitness test having come off at half-time in last week’s 2-1 home victory over Plymouth with a groin problem.

Head coach Lee Johnson says Town’s management situation has made his pre-match preparation more difficult.

“It can be harder to prepare to face a team in a changeover period as Ipswich are at the moment,” he told the Black Cats official website.

“The best judgement for the future is often the past, which is why we do so much analysis, so what we’ll have to focus on is the individual players’ strengths and weaknesses, rather than so much the team unity part.

“I’ve mentioned to the players that Ipswich are billing it as a big game — their capacity is around 28,000 which they’ve been looking to sell out. Our players are used to big games, but away from home it’s a different dynamic. We want to maximise this key festive period.”

Johnson, who was born in Suffolk during his father Gary's time as a player with Newmarket Town and was Bristol City boss under Town CEO Mark Ashton, says he was happy with his side’s defending against the Blues at the Stadium of Light and says they have played more football since then.

“I was really pleased with our defensive structure when we played Ipswich at home recently. We have been more fluid on the ball lately than we were in that particular game, but the result was so important in the end,” he said.

“Ipswich have some really good players — as I called them, the ‘galacticos’ of the division. They’ve traded well and brought some players back into League One from heavy Championship experience.”

Historically, Sunderland just have the edge with Town having won 23 of the games between the teams (23 in the league) and the Wearsiders 24 (22) with eight (eight) having ended in draws.

Last month at the Stadium of Light, Town were left rueing missed chances as Sunderland struck twice late on to claim a wholly unlikely 2-0 victory.

The Blues had a number of opportunities before the Black Cats netted via Luke O’Nien on 85 and an Aiden McGeady penalty in injury time, their only shots on target, to claim the three points.

At Portman Road in January, Charlie Wyke’s goal in first-half injury time saw Sunderland to a 1-0 victory over 10-man Town, the Blues having been reduced in number early on after Kayden Jackson was red-carded.

Jackson caught Bailey Wright with a studs-high challenge in the 10th minute before Wyke’s goal from Max Power’s cross from the right won the three points for the visitors, while full debutant loanee Luke Thomas spurned Town’s best chance in the second half.

Saturday’s referee is Thomas Bramall from Sheffield, who has shown 56 yellow cards and two red in 18 games so far this season.

Bramall’s last Town game was the 2-0 home defeat to Portsmouth in December last year in which he booked Mark McGuinness, Jack Lankester and Brett McGavin as well as three of the visitors.

Prior to that his only previous Town match was the 2-0 opening day of the 2020/21 League One season victory over Wigan at Portman Road in which he booked skipper Luke Chambers and one Latic.

Squad from: Walton, Hladky, Vincent-Young, Donacien, Clements, Penney, Edmundson, Nsiala, Burgess, Woolfenden, Morsy, Evans, Harper, El Mizouni, Carroll, Fraser, Humphreys, Chaplin, Celina, Edwards, Siziba, Bonne, Pigott, Norwood, Jackson.

Photo: Pagepix

TimmyH added 11:24 - Dec 18 'Galvanised'...I wouldn't bet on it, more like a rabbit in the headlights! anyway here's hoping for a win!
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gosblue added 11:49 - Dec 18 I just hope the spin stops when the new gaffer comes in. We have not had a 90 minute performance yet. We haven't been convincing at the back. How Cook was ever happy with some of the performances is beyond me. The finishing at Sunderland was Sunday League at best. We are all desperate to get behind the team but they need to give us something to shout about and wake me up from this nightmare. COYB

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masetheace added 12:36 - Dec 18 Only problem for me is that the new guy looks too much like Phil Neville !!!
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