McKenna: It’s a Stage to Stay Calm, There Are a Lot of Points to Play For Thursday, 3rd Mar 2022 17:25 Town visit Fleetwood on Saturday aiming for three points to boost their play-off hopes following the back-to-back draws at home to Cheltenham and at Morecambe. Manager Kieran McKenna admits that his team, still ninth, but six points off the top six following midweek fixtures elsewhere, needs to win at Highbury but says they’ve gone into every match with that approach since he took charge in mid-December. “In terms of the league table and the position, yes,” he said. “But I think we’ve gone into every game with that mindset, to be honest. “We’re never going to be happy when we pick up a draw really, but especially with the situation that we’re in. “Draws aren’t too much benefit and over the course of last week we had two really, really good performances that ended up in two points, and the reality of football is that if we’d played poorly in both games and nicked a win in one, we’d have one more point, so we’re very clear that we’re going in to try and win every game. This weekend won’t be any exception. “I think it’s a stage to stay calm, there are a lot of points to play for, there are still 33 points on the table, so whatever the result is this weekend, I don’t think it changes the situation completely one way or the other. “We’re going to have to keep performing how we are, we’re going to have to win a lot of games. “I think that’s going to be the same whether we hopefully get the three points on Saturday or whether we don’t. “We keep going and we’ll keep going into every game trying to get three points. We know we’re going to have to win a lot and if we do, then let’s see where we’re at.”  McKenna says things aren’t at the make or break stage regarding any one result. “We haven’t looked at it that way from the start and I don’t think it’s time to do that until it’s mathematically the case that we need to win every game,” he continued. “That’s when we’ll know that in reality we’ll need to win every game. “At the moment we don’t, we need to win a lot of games, we don’t have a crystal ball so we can’t know exactly how many games we’ve got to win, but we’ve got a fair idea, so for now I think the better approach is to focus on ourselves, try and get the performance, and try and get three points. “That’s one game ticked off. It would be 10 games left and then we’ll move on to Tuesday at home to Lincoln.”
Last season Blackpool made a late surge into the League One play-offs before winning promotion to the Championship, while Bolton did much the same in League Two. McKenna says the Blues can take inspiration from their achievements but also from their own form in his 12 matches in charge. “I think it happens every year,” he reflected. “We can use those external references if we want but I think we can look to ourselves, to be honest. “We’ve had 12 games and if you look at most objective markers in the last 12 games, we’ve been the top performing team in the league, especially if you look at the balance between chances created, expected goals and chances created against us, we’ve been right at there at the top of the league. “In terms of performance, we know that over the last 12 games, there’s not been anyone significantly better than us in the league. “In terms of points, there have been very few teams who have picked up more points than us over the last 12 games. “I think we can take confidence from ourselves, from how we’ve played, from the results over the last 12 games. “I think we’ve probably left a few points out there, in terms that our performances have probably been even better than the points total that we’ve gained, but even having said that we’ve picked up a decent points total [24]. “We’ve lost two games out of 12, we’re picking up two points a game, we’re in a healthy position in terms of results but especially in terms of performance. I think we take confidence from that. “We’ve spoken with the group this week about how there are a lot of things that reflect how positively we’re doing. “The result on any given Saturday is only a portion of that. Things can happen over the course of a game or two but over a longer haul of games, if you perform well, if you create more chances than the opposition, then you’re going to win plenty of games and I think that’s where our focus will be. “We’ll keep focusing on ourselves, try and do what we’ve been doing, improve on what we’ve been doing and we think that will be enough to win plenty of games.”  Fleetwood are 19th in the table, two points off the relegation zone and without a win in their last eight, however, they have picked up some impressive results. Their last victory was a 1-0 defeat of leaders Rotherham in January and they also beat the Millers 4-2 away back in September. “It’s probably like the situation with a lot of teams that we’ve played,” McKenna continued. “There’s so little between the teams sometimes and so little between the teams at the top and the bottom and everyone picks up points on any given week. “There are such fine margins between sometimes not getting results on a weekly basis and getting the results. “They are a team whose home record has been really good. I think the last four games at home they’ve had MK, they’ve had Plymouth, Rotherham and Cambridge, and they haven’t lost any of them [all draws aside from the Millers win]. “Obviously, they beat Rotherham in that period as well. Went away to Portsmouth at the weekend and were 3-0 up at half-time against a good Portsmouth team [before drawing 3-3], so I think it’s every game. “Every game is a challenge, you can’t take anything for granted in this league and there are random results every weekend. “We’ll certainly respect Fleetwood for their strengths and their threats, we know it’s going to be a big challenge. It’s a tough place to go and win, which is what we want to do, so we’re going to have to be at our very best.”
McKenna seems certain to stick with keeper Christian Walton and his familiar back three of Janoi Donacien, Luke Woolfenden and George Edmundson. Wes Burns similarly seems a fixture at right wing-back and will be facing his old club. Dominic Thompson could again be at left wing-back, however, Kane Vincent-Young, who was given a run-out for the U23s on Monday, and Matt Penney, who is over a minor ankle problem, are other candidates. In the centre of midfield, skipper Sam Morsy will be partnered by either Tyreeq Bakinson or Tom Carroll with whoever is left out likely to start in Tuesday’s home game against Lincoln City. Up front, McKenna could start his three subs from the Morecambe game. Kayden Jackson, Bersant Celina and Conor Chaplin. Again, the Blues boss is likely to shuffle his forward options for the Imps’ visit to Portman Road. Fleetwood, who have won five, drawn five and lost six at home this season, go into the game having been beaten 2-0 at Wigan on Tuesday. Head coach Stephen Crainey said afterwards that his team will benefit from the game despite the defeat. “The work effort that the lads put in to keep going right up until the end was really good and that will help us in the future,” he told his club’s official website. “I said to them at half-time they need to keep going and they did, so all credit to them for that, and we’ll keep going, dust ourselves down, and be ready for Ipswich on Saturday. “We were getting into some good areas in the second half, but it was an issue challenging [Latics keeper] Ben Amos. “We were ruthless in the first half against Portsmouth on Saturday, but we just lacked that cutting edge today. That will come though, if we keep giving that endeavour, the chances will start to come, and we’ll start putting the ball in the back of the net. “We’ve got a good squad of players, so we have the squad to deal with [injuries and suspensions], so when a player is missing it just paves the way for another player to stake their claim.” Regarding Town, his assistant Barry Nicholson says the Lancastrians will have to be wary of Town’s forward players. ”Ipswich have got a really good squad, they have fire power at the top end of the pitch,” he told the Blackpool Gazette.. “At the weekend they had James Norwood playing, Sone Aluko in the hole and the people sitting on the bench - Bersant Celina, Conor Chaplin, Joe Pigott. “It's something we've got to look at and be aware of and block them out, then on the other hand we have to play our stuff and do what we can and try and hurt them going the other way. “We watched them against Morecambe the other day, they're certainly in a position where they can push for the play-offs. “It's a different kind of pressure, they have the pressure of trying to make the play-offs, we have the pressure of trying to get away from the other end of the table. If both teams are at it, it should be a really good fixture.” Nicholson says former Cod Army man Burns is someone else his players will have to be wary of: “Wes did a lot of work on his finishing whilst he was here, I know he's transformed himself into a wing-back but with his pace and power getting into the top end of the pitch, it's something we have to be aware of going into the weekend. “He's done a lot of work on his end product so it doesn't surprise me to see him scoring goals. “When players are working here at Fleetwood you want to make them better, if they go on to bigger moves to better their career I'm quite happy to see that happen. “Hopefully he doesn't do too well at the weekend. If he's on an off day on Saturday then turns it on again next week then I'll be happy.” Among those who will be missing on Saturday is ex-Town striker Joe Garner, who was sent off late on against the Latics for a clash with James McClean. Midfielder Dan Batty has been an absentee since suffering an ankle injury at Cheltenham last month, while another ex-Town striker Ellis Harrison, former loanee Josh Harrop, Ged Garner, Jordan Rossiter, Brad Halliday, Darnell Johnson and Harrison Holgate have also been on the sidelines recently. The teams’ meetings in 2019/20 were the first in their histories with the Blues having won three of the five games since, all in League One, and Fleetwood two. In October at Portman Road, Bersant Celina smashed home an injury time winner as Town beat Fleetwood 2-1 to record back-to-back league victories for the first time under Paul Cook. Chaplin gave the Blues the lead with a sharp shot four minutes after the break but the Cod Army looked to be on their way to a point after Callum Morton had equalised on 82 until Celina lashed home his first goal of his second spell with the Blues three minutes into added-on time. Fleetwood were victorious in last season’s match between the teams at Highbury in March 2021 in Cook’s fourth fixture in charge of the Blues. Former Town loanee Callum Connolly, now with Blackpool, and Ged Garner were on target as Fleetwood deservedly won 2-0. Connolly nodded the opener in the ninth minute and Garner added the second with a low shot on 57 with Town never looking like they would get anything from the game. Blues wing-back Burns joined Fleetwood on a permanent basis in January 2017 having previously had a spell on loan in the second half of 2015/16. In total for the Lancastrians, the Welshman made 145 starts and 45 sub appearances, scoring 29 goals prior to moving on to Portman Road last summer. Town right-back Donacien was on loan with the Cod Army in the second half of last season, making 16 starts and three sub appearances. Centre-half Toto Nsiala joined Fleetwood in January after three and a half years at Portman Road. The Congo DR international made 72 starts and six sub appearances for the Blues, scoring once. Former Blues striker Garner joined them in the summer after leaving Cypriot side APOEL Nicosia. Garner was with Town during 2017/18 scoring 10 times in 29 starts and three sub appearances. Harrison joined the Cod Army from Portsmouth in January. Harrison spent 2018/19 at Town making nine starts and eight sub appearances, scoring once. Midfielder Josh Harrop moved to Fleetwood on loan from Preston in January but picked up an injury four minutes into his debut and hasn't featured since. Harrop was with the Blues in the second half of last season, also on loan from the Lilywhites, making three starts and 12 sub appearances. Ex-Town academy keeper Harry Wright moved to Fleetwood following his release by the Blues in the close season but is yet to make a first team appearance having spent time on loan at Farsley Celtic earlier in the season. Saturday’s referee is Andrew Kitchen, who has shown 59 yellow cards and two red in 23 games so far this season. The Durham-based official will be taking control of his first Town match. Squad from: Walton, Hladky, Donacien, Edmundson, Woolfenden, Burgess, Burns, Vincent-Young, Thompson, Penney, Morsy, El Mizouni, Carroll, Bakinson, Celina, Aluko, Chaplin, Bonne, Norwood, Pigott, Jackson.
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