New manager Kieran McKenna’s first game in charge of the Blues ended in a 1-0 victory via James Norwood’s third goal in his last three games. The striker pounced to net from close range a minute before half-time with sub Conor Chaplin coming close to making it 2-0 when he hit the post in the dying seconds.

Vaclav Hladky returned in goal for Christian Walton as McKenna named an otherwise unchanged team.

Walton was absent from the 18 and understood to have had Covid with Tomas Holy on the bench. Hladky was making his first league appearance since the Cambridge match at the start of October.

Town, who arrived at Portman Road together on a coach, lined up in a 3-4-3 system as opposed to the 3-5-2 employed against Sunderland 11 days ago.

Luke Woolfenden was in the middle of the three centre-halves with George Edmundson on the left and Janoi Donacien the right.

Wes Burns and Matt Penney continued as the wing-backs with skipper Sam Morsy and Lee Evans in central midfield with Macauley Bonne the central striker with Norwood to his left and Sone Aluko the right.

For Wycombe, manager Gareth Ainsworth was absent having tested positive for Covid with assistant manager Richard Dobson and player-coach Matt Bloomfield, who is from Felixstowe and started his career with the Blues, taking charge from the dugout.

The Chairboys’ line-up included ex-Blues loanee David Stockdale, while former Town youngster Adam Przybek is the sub keeper.

New boss McKenna was introduced to the 26,456-strong crowd and given a standing ovation as he made his way to the dugout before the teams came out separately, Wycombe first, then the Blues. Meanwhile, new Town head of analysis, Charlie Turnbull, made his way to the camera gantry.

The sides took a knee to warm applause from the large Portman Road crowd before the game got under way with the Blues in control of the early stages.

Skipper Morsy struck the first shot of the McKenna era, looping an effort over from just outside the box after being teed-up by Burns after the Welshman had been unable to find space for a strike of his own.

Morsy was shown the game’s first yellow card in the ninth minute, a caution which looked a little harsh despite his challenge on Anthony Stewart having been a foul.

Penney joined his captain in the book on 11 after felling Jason McCarthy as the Wycombe wing-back broke into the area on the right chasing Sam Vokes’s flick. McCarthy fell well inside the area but referee Samuel Barrott deemed the foul to have taken place outside the box, which looked correct.

Chairboys fans called for a red card but it was difficult to see how the incident could have been viewed as an obvious goalscoring opportunity. Visitors’ skipper Joe Jacobson curled his free-kick into the wall.

There was another scare for the Blues two minutes later when Woolfenden just about managed to take the ball away from Brandon Hanlan on the edge of the box from another Vokes flick.

Despite those two incidents, it was still mainly Town and in the 17th minute they thought they’d gone ahead.

Burns fed Aluko on his right and the Nigerian international powered over a low ball which Bonne, without a goal in his previous nine games, tapped in at the far post only to see a linesman flag raised for offside.

Bonne thought his wait for a goal had come to an end again two minutes later when Morsy played wide to Burns, who sent over a cross which the striker powerfully headed towards goal only for Stockdale to bat it away.

In the 22nd minute, Morsy threaded in Bonne on the left of the box but Jacobson took the ball away from him. Norwood smashed the loose ball into the net from distance but with the linesman having indicated that Bonne had been offside.

A minute later, Hladky punched a ball nervously when under no pressure, before the ball was played back into the area and Chris Forino headed well wide.

From the goal-kick, Town almost played themselves into trouble but referee Barrott awarded a free-kick to the Blues for a David Wheeler foul on Evans inside the box.

Town were well on top with Wycombe camped inside their own area for lengthy periods. Centre-halves Donacien, Edmundson and Woolfenden had all made forays forward from the back, at times leaving their side a little short on numbers defensively.

The Blues were passing the ball around and keeping it for long spells but without being able to find a way through the Chairboys’ massed backline.

On 27 a Donacien run from the back ended with the defender hitting a rare shot from a tight angle which was blocked.

Just before the half-hour, Hladky required attention after colliding with Edmundson as the defender cut out a low cross from the left following a Wycombe break but was OK to continue.

Wycombe saw more of the ball for a short spell, Curtis Thompson volleying well into the Sir Alf Ramsey Stand after a corner had been cleared, then on 34 Norwood brought it in from the left before scraping a shot through to Stockdale, who was given little trouble.

On 43 Norwood reacted angrily to what he claimed was an elbow from Stewart and both players were spoken to by the referee before an Evans free-kick into the box was hooked away.

There was no doubt that Town had been the better side and a minute later they finally scored the first goal of the McKenna era.

Donacien sent a throw into the box to Bonne’s feet, the striker laid it off to Morsy, who scuffed a shot across the face as he broke towards goal, which Stockdale could only palm to Norwood, who couldn’t help but divert over the line from a few feet out.

The striker’s third goal in three league games was celebrated by virtually the entire Town team in front of an ecstatic Sir Bobby Robson Stand.

There was time for Penney to send a dangerous ball across the Wycombe area before the half-time whistle was greeted by applause and cheers with the Blues in possession in the Chairboys’ half and pushing for a second goal.

Town could be very happy with their first 45 minutes under their new boss. They had been on the front foot, had passed the ball around confidently, with their central defenders joining in the attacks, and looked for openings as the visitors retreated into the box, finally taking their opportunity through Norwood in the dying moments of the period.

Aside from a couple of moments of Blues hesitancy and miscommunication at the back, the Chairboys had hardly threatened.

Five minutes after the restart, Norwood out-battled Stewart for a bouncing ball a third of the way into the visitors’ half and Bonne chased it into the area before hitting a weak shot across the face and wide.

Hladky did well to punch from under his bar under a lot of pressure from a Wycombe free-kick in the 54th minute as the Chairboys threatened for the first time since the break.

Wycombe called for Morsy to be shown a second yellow card in the 58th minute when the Town captain sought to clear but caught Wheeler, who he hadn’t appeared to see running on to the ball. Despite vociferous protests in front of his face and some scuffling between the players, referee Barrott was content to just give a free-kick.

On the hour, Penney returned a corner from the right which had been cleared to Evans, who passed to Woolfenden in space on the edge of the box but the centre-half’s first touch let him down when he looked to have a good opportunity of a shot at goal.

A minute later, Evans’s excellent cross-field ball played in Norwood on the left of the area but the striker was unable to get a clean shot on it as it bounced and he was under pressure and his shot went the wrong side of the post.

For the first time Wycombe began to see more of the ball, but in the 69th minute, Aluko, again among Town’s top performers, sent Burns away and the Welshman played in Bonne as the striker made a run towards the right.

The on-loan QPR man steered the ball away from the advancing Stockdale and went to ground as they collided but referee Barrott waved away the Blues’ protests, probably correctly.

Wycombe swapped Thompson for Josh Scowen and Wheeler for Anis Mehmeti on 70 and might have levelled a minute later when Garath McCleary teed-up Hanlan inside the box from where the former Gillingham striker worked himself space before shooting well over. Hanlan will feel he should have done better.

In the 72nd minute, Town switched Aluko, who was given a big ovation by the Blues support as he left the pitch, for Chaplin.

Wycombe continued to take the game to the Blues, who were by now rarely pushing into the Chairboys’ half.

On 75, a Mehmeti shot from the right of the box looked to take two deflections before flying past Hladky’s right post. Following the resultant corner, which Hladky confidently punched well away from goal, Jacobson scuffed well wide.

Norwood made way for Tom Carroll in the 80th minute, the goalscorer receiving warm applause as he made his way to the touchline, then Wycombe brought on their talisman Adebayo Akinfenwa for Forino.

Portman Road was becoming a little nervy but the tension was relieved a little in the 8th minute when Bonne’s ball into the box was diverted over and out for a corner by Stewart. Bonne headed the flag-kick across goal but Morsy was penalised for a foul as he sought to knock it back to corner-taker Evans.

Wycombe should have equalised in the 88th minute. With Hladky being man-handled and unable to get off his line - as was the case with Walton for the Chairboys’ goal at Adams Park - the Blues were unable to clear McCarthy’s corner from the left and it reached Stewart, who shot over when it looked far easier to hit the target.

Bonne made way for Joe Pigott and was applauded off, having put in an all-action display despite taking his goal drought to 10 matches.

Scowen was booked for a foul on Chaplin as the game moved into five minutes of additional time, then Pigott joined him for kicking the ball away as Wycombe looked to take a free-kick.

Deep in injury time, a Blues clearance almost saw Burns and Chaplin away on goal with no Wycombe defenders to beat but Stockdale cleared.

Town came within a whisker of making it 2-0 moments later when Morsy made his way through a number of tackles and into the area before laying the ball to Chaplin to his left, whose shot across the keeper hit the post.

Burns took the conservative option with the loose ball of taking it into the corner and soon after, the final whistle confirmed a first three points in senior management for McKenna to loud cheers from the Portman Road faithful.

Town had deserved the win overall, but the second half was at times a more rearguard effort, although in the end the Blues could have won more comfortably.

The win, confirming Town’s first double of the season, sees the Blues stay 11th, 10 points off the Chairboys in the final play-off place ahead of Saturday’s home game against Lincoln, which is in doubt due to Covid cases at Sincil Bank.

Town: Hladky, Donacien, Woolfenden, Edmundson, Burns, Aluko (Chaplin 72), Evans, Morsy (c), Penney, Norwood (Carroll 80), Bonne. Unused: Holy, Nsiala, Fraser, Jackson, Pigott.

Wycombe: Stockdale, Jacobson (c), Stewart, Wheeler (Mehmeti 70), Thompson (Wheeler 70), Vokes, McCleary, Hanlan, Obita, McCarthy, Forino (Akinfenwa 81). Unused: Przybek, Grimmer, Horgan, De Barr. Referee: Sam Barrott (West Riding). Att: 26,456 (Wycombe: 634).

Photo: Action Images

ringwoodblue added 22:24 - Dec 29 Really happy for Kieran getting off to a winning start as manager. It was a scrappy goal and a scrappy win but a win nevertheless. Hope we can build on this in the coming games (whenever they are played).
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Reusers_Tash added 22:27 - Dec 29 A 1-0 win was actually the best possible result in my book as it told us so much about how in under 2 weeks Kieran was able to set up another managers team to be kinda solid and win when Paul could not do that ever.
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ArnieM added 22:30 - Dec 29 Well Played Town. Its not easy playing football against a string pub team whose only mission in life is to rough you up and play in your face: true League One qualities from Wycombe . Lets just get a run of wins going now. we ideally could do with the game on Saturday but i think Lincoln will try and pull a fast one of the EFL like so many clubs appear to be trying to do over this Christmas period. Dont professional footballers get the jab ??

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thomas2008 added 22:32 - Dec 29 People need to stop chanting bonnes name he has been awful ever since the first 10 games of the season
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midastouch added 22:37 - Dec 29 A winning start, can't ask for more than that. Wins breed confidence and I don't care too much how we get over the line right now, we just need to get a run going asap if not this season is toast. Nobody can blame the new manager if we don't reach top 6 this season though, as he's inherited quite a mess to sort out. But if we can start moving up the league and stop giving away so many soft goals (which have plagued us all season) then that will be good progress to build on going forwards.

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dunkleberrydog added 22:38 - Dec 29 A much better performance this evening. More positive in going forward. More positive in defending, and running forward with the ball. Wolfs best game of the season and Edmundsons too. Norwood makes all the difference up front and he is a 100%er. Evans looking and playing more confidently. Morsy (lucky to stay on) but consistently reliable (he should have stuck the ball in himself). Good punches most of the time from the goalie. Limited Wycombe to just a few chances…. It's a good positive start.

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TimmyH added 22:39 - Dec 29 To be frank Bonne found himself again a bit isolated tonight in the 2nd half reverting to 1 upfront and got offside too many times...and currently is bang out of form, should have scored 1st half with the header but the last month has been should of could of would of with Mcauley.
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runaround added 22:42 - Dec 29 A battling performance and a deserved win I believe. All the players battled hard and were good at times. Brilliant atmosphere too and the crowd really carried the team through A good start to the McKenna era
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EssexTractor added 22:43 - Dec 29 Brilliant crowd noise Great start for Kieran 19 new players signed but tonight in my view best three players were: Wolfenden Donacien Norwood Funny old game !
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Bazza8564 added 22:44 - Dec 29 I agree with Arnie, jabs are regulation for fans but not it seems for players. Anyway, more importantly we won, we showed a level of determination tonight thats been missing. Cook, for all his pretty football which I admired greatly, simply did not get that response from his team and KM should be congratulated. A few firsts for me this season to call out: The high line defensively really worked well at set plays and kept Wycome, for all their bombardment. Encouraging the CB to push forward to nullify man marking further up the field was excellent, especially first half, when we did it 5 or more times and created spare men to pass to. The communication at the back looked better, even after situations had been nullified there was encouragement and team spirit evident. A fellow fan told me anotehr interesting fact too from tonight. The players no longer drift in to PR in dribs and drabs over a 30 minute period, they now all report into Playford Road and the team and coaching staff all travel down together. That feels very Man Utd and can only instill discipline and togetherness. Im still unconvinced we cant go on and do something really good this season, these are our next few games. Apart from a trip to Hillsborough I really cant see why we cant be looking at most of these as opportunities for 3 points, but as ever i remain an optimist... 1 Jan 15:00 Lincoln City H 8 Jan 15:00 Gillingham A 15 Jan 15:00 Bolton Wanderers A 22 Jan 15:00 Accrington Stanley H 25 Jan 19:45 AFC Wimbledon A 29 Jan 15:00 Sheffield Wednesday A 5 Feb 15:00 Gillingham H 8 Feb 19:45 Doncaster Rovers A 12 Feb 15:00 MK Dons A 19 Feb 15:00 Burton Albion H 22 Feb 19:45 Cheltenham Town H 26 Feb 15:00 Morecambe

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BlueRuin69 added 22:46 - Dec 29 Great to do the double against awful hoofball Wycombe. Bringing on Akinfenwa sums them up, he can hardly walk but he wins headers. Imagine watching that every week. Coyb
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blueboy1981 added 22:52 - Dec 29 No better start for a Manager than a Win. A good start for sure. McKenna will learn much about these players very quickly, and my first impressions are he will accept no less than 100% from anyone. I think the message will soon sink in, and has to be a good trait to start off with. Well done all - could so easily have been a 2-0 win at the end … !! A Happy Wednesday Evening - and another good crowd. Portman Road has to be so close to ‘rocking again' ……. Where are these so called good teams in League 1 ? - tough to break down yes, but I think McKenna has what it will take to ‘unlock' a few of those with no great difficulty. Let's hope anyway. Happy New Year to you ALL.

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dunkleberrydog added 22:55 - Dec 29 @BlueRuin, I seem to remember him (Akin) coming on and scoring against us a few seasons ago. I could hardly believe it! I was marvelling at his physique…he looks like he couldn't play Sunday League….Yet he's still playing for Wycombe, but at least we kept him quiet tonight. That's a big improvement….
3

brendenward35 added 22:55 - Dec 29 These players are playing for the new manager which is what I would have expected as McKenna comes across as very professional and knows what he expects from players. Great to see Norwood continuing his goal scoring and also seeing a partnership between wolfenden and Edmondson growing that's going to be crucial. A tweak in January and let's see where this team ends up. Every confidence in McKenna had a good feeling about this guy really like him.

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Linkboy13 added 23:10 - Dec 29 We looked a team that was well coached to night so you got to say well done to the coaching team to have organised them in such a short space of time. But because it was only one nil we've still got people moaning on here saying it was scrappy. When you've played the game you know there's more to football than attacking and tonight the defending was the best ive seen for a long time. Main highlight for me was the central defensive partnership of Edmundson and Wolfenden first time this season we've looked solid in that department all season and that's including the away performance at Wycombe.

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budgieplucker added 23:26 - Dec 29 Woolfie, Edmundson and JD rightly getting the plaudits along with Nors. But good performances all round that made that an all round team performance. Would just like to add that I thought Lee Evans hardly put a foot wrong all evening, I amongst others have been critical of him a lot this season but he and Morsy were very effective working together a little higher up the pitch, but moving on to Sone Aluko, I just like the guy more every time I see him, hardly ever dispossessed works brilliantly in tight spaces and drops into holes ready to revive the ball. You just seem to have the confidence that he will make something happen or ensure possession is maintained. At the beginning of the season you would have picked Chaplin, Celina or Fraser all day long over Sone - but hey none of those speculative flicks or arrogance about his play, just consistently very good - big well done Sone, I am becoming a big fan and quite rightly deserve to start over the names just mentioned.

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Bert added 23:29 - Dec 29 We deserved that tonight. The back three were solid and even treated us to Beattie like runs through mid field. Haven't seen that for some time. As others have said, the game was not pretty but that's because the opposition wanted it that way. What a horrible side to watch. We were solid, on the front foot and played with desire. Well done to our new manager. The future looks bright.

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thechangingman added 00:55 - Dec 30 It's nearly 01.00, and I've just arrived back in South Lincolnshire after the match, and I AM STILL BUZZING!!! This was one of the best times I've spent at Portman Road in YEARS, and I loved the pumping atmosphere, the tenacity on the pitch, the moments of skill, and the never-say-die attitude. I fully realise it's WAY too soon to make any meaningful judgements, but tonight I feel very happy to have KM at the helm, and for us to face the rest of the season with those most elusive of emotions for us at Town fans: HOPE & OPTIMISM!! My best friend, a Wolves fan, came with me, and said he hasn't experienced such a passionate crowd in years, especially in the final 10 minutes, as we willed the team across the line. Tomorrow can look after itself; for tonight, I am one EXTREMELY happy Ipswich fan, who BELIEVES we can look forward to playing Norwich next seaon in the Championship. It'll be a while before I am able to sleep, and I can't wait until I am next back at Portman Road. COYB ITID...

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LimerickTractorBoy added 01:07 - Dec 30 thechangingman... massive well done to you and all the fantastic Ipswich supporters tonight. Well done KMcK and all at ITFC, all I'd ask for is honesty of effort and we got that tonight. Maybe, just maybe.......
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thechangingman added 01:29 - Dec 30 Thanks LTB - it was WELL worth the effort, and I agree that honesty and effort were delivered in SPADES tonight!!!
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ipswichboi added 01:57 - Dec 30 I'm very glad that I went to the game tonight.. We looked a very different beast to the tripe that I've seen recently (I didn't go to the Sunderland game..!) I'll be honest, I was certainly never firmly in the "Cook Out" brigade, however I realise that we looked deflated and devoid of ideas in his last few games, whereas tonight we had a gameplan and tactics that worked very well, as if the new man knows what he's doing! Tonight, during the first 25 minutes or so we started well and were unlucky not to be 1 nil up, though absolutely deserved the HT lead. Obviously they had a patch in the game where they threatened but I felt generally quite comfortable and confident that we weren't going to concede, whislt we offered enough threat on the counter to keep them on their toes. More of the same please KMcK.

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therein61 added 06:34 - Dec 30 A welcome 3 points and for me the best sign was how collective we were as a team everyone working for each other, it's a sure bet we would not have seen the game out without conceding a few short weeks ago lets hope(health permitting we can get on a positive run of games).
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Cakeman added 06:42 - Dec 30 Very pleasing win and performance. A good start for Kieran McKenna and it was evident that as he said earlier in the week that it was about performance levels more than formations. That is very important in my eyes as it does give the players a little freedom to express themselves as they did in this game instead of being pigeonholed into one specific area. I liked the fact we played with Two up top. It was noticeable that we were taking a methodical approach in moving the ball forward instead of the 100mph bursts that have sometimes in the past left large empty pockets behind us. That's got to be a plus because we have been caught a few times like that this season which has cost us dear. All players and the management team deserve praise for their efforts in this game. Must not get despondent if we don't make it this season though as we have a lot of ground to make up but the early signs are positive based on the evidence of this showing.

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ipswichone added 06:44 - Dec 30 Kieran already has us playing like a team.very entertaining game,with loads of positives
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jas0999 added 08:04 - Dec 30 Great start. Good win, against tough opposition, in front of an excellent crowd. clean sheet thrown in to! This is something to build on for sure.
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