Harness: Win Showed Growth From Last Season Sunday, 7th Aug 2022 09:16 by Blair Ferguson Following the 2-1 away win at Forest Green Rovers, Town forward Marcus Harness explained how the victory showed that the Blues have grown from last season. Harness opened the scoring with his first Ipswich goal in the 37th minute and a brilliant curling Sam Morsy strike in first-half injury time had Town looking comfortable going into the second half. But, reminiscent of last season, Town began to struggle in the second 45 and were pegged back by Josh March's goal, however, with Christian Walton making some vital stops, they came through a difficult spell and then nine minutes of additional time to claim the three points. Harness's team-mates in the Bolt New Lawn changing rooms after the game reflected that they might have come away with a draw in the same circumstances last season and that a corner might have been turned early on. “It's good to get the first win and a few of the lads in the group said last season they could see us not taking a win out of that game,” Harness said.  “Obviously, I wasn't here last season, but it's shown a lot to stay strong in the last minutes that were added, so it's a good three points. “Two-nil is a tough scoreline because it's always a fine line between getting another goal and the game being killed, but if they get a goal the game can change completely. “So we're just happy that we stayed strong and Walts has had to make some amazing saves to keep us in it, but we still see where we need to improve, but we're happy with aspects of it as well. “It's shown some growth from last season where we might not have come away with three points. So, it's good for me to hear coming into the group and we've come away with the three points after a shaky period. “We think we can still improve in a lot of areas, but I think it was a good performance and we're happy with it, and we just move on to the next one.” Town's first win of the season — something that took seven league games last term — takes some pressure off the team and Harness's first goal for the club does the same for him personally. Now he is in a team which he believes wouldn't look out of place in the Championship, he intends to be a mainstay all season. “The quality throughout the squad and on the bench in this Ipswich team wouldn't look out of place in the Championship,” Harness explained. “There is a lot of expectation and a lot of pressure to come in and play well, and it's just trying to live up to that and trying to settle in as quickly as possible. “It's been tough coming into the team, into such a well-oiled machine when some of the patterns of play are just so good and some of the quality throughout the squad is so good. “It's taken me a little bit of time to sink in and settle in, but today I felt a lot more comfortable and I think it was a much better performance from myself personally, and the lads were incredible. “Scoring takes the edge off things definitely. I still think I could contribute a lot more than I have done so far, but I'm not going to put too much pressure on myself. I know settling in takes time and I'm here for a long time hopefully, so there's no rush, but it definitely helps to get a goal early on.  “I am probably too hard on myself sometimes and it has been good. I enjoyed it today and it's nice to get a goal, but obviously I'm always looking to improve and I'm always looking to show what I can do. But there's no pressure to do that. I'm not going to put too much pressure on myself to do that straight away. “There have been some good glimpses, but I think I've got a lot more to bring and the relationships with players around me are still growing, so it's exciting really. “[Having other forwards on the bench means there’s] a lot of pressure to do well, but we all push each other and we'll all be better for it and hopefully it will be good for the team. “It's a good problem to have for the manager and there's going to be times when people come in and people go out, but I think we'll be a good team throughout the season with the quality that we have. “So, it's just trying to show the good aspects like we did today and ironing out some of the things we weren't as happy with, and I'm sure we'll do that as a group. “They are so supportive, especially after last week when I was giving myself a bit of a hard time and everyone got around me really. It was appreciated and it is a really tight-knit supportive group of people who want to help each other and push each other forward.” Harness was looking forward to having a look at his first goal for the Blues - “I haven’t seen it back yet but it was alright” - and on many weekends his sharp strike might have grabbed the headlines, but the summer signing from Pompey admits it was somewhat eclipsed by skipper Morsy’s brilliant effort just before half-time. “Samy’s has taken the trophy I think,” he laughed. “I’ve only been here for a few weeks and I spoke to him in training and he’s been banging them in, but he said he only scored three goals last season so I can see him scoring a lot more this season.” Harness also had praise for his new supporters with 1,200 having made the trip to Gloucestershire. “It’s amazing, amazing support coming all this way and it’s a pleasure to play in front of them.” Perhaps inevitably, Harness was asked about expectations and the chances of the top-two finish and he says he understands that the expectation at Portman Road this season is promotion and shouldn’t be something the Blues shrink away from. "The pressure is a privilege and you've got to look at it that way and not let it wear you down,” he said. “Games like today can be very difficult and for them it was a free hit really. There's no pressure on them to get anything out of the game. “It's their first home game in League One, so it can be a difficult game to come to, and I think we've done well to get three points when last year the manager was talking about how we only took four points from the teams that came up from League Two. So, we've got three on the board in the first game, so it's a good sign. “We try and thrive under the pressure, but I think the expectation for everyone is to get into the top two. We can talk about that all day, but we just concentrate on the next game and the next performance. “We believe that we have enough to push ourselves to do that, and hopefully, that's the case.”
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