McKenna: I Really Liked the Way We Responded to Defeat Thursday, 6th Oct 2022 15:47 Blues boss Kieran McKenna was delighted with the way his squad responded to their first league defeat of the season at Plymouth and the way approached training ahead of the home games against Portsmouth and Cambridge, both of which they won. The League One-leading Pilgrims came from a goal down to beat the second-placed Blues 2-1 at Home Park, but McKenna says that result was quickly put behind them. “I think going into the Portsmouth game, I think I really enjoyed the training week in the build-up to it because we’d lost our game going into that,” he said. “And they’re the times that you find out a little bit more about the group. When you’re at a big club like Ipswich, you never want to lose any games and you do your utmost to make sure that you don’t, but you’re going to lose games over the course of a season. “How you respond is really important and I really liked the way we were as a group of players, as staff and as a club behind the scenes in that week. “I liked the way we approached that game and delivered a good performance and a good result. “And I think over the last two games, the squad has shown its importance, as it has done all season really. “Different players coming into the team at different times, players coming into the match at different times, starting or off the bench, but everybody coming in with a shared purpose to give their utmost for the team whatever minutes they have on the pitch and help us towards getting a result. “I think that’s been really prominent and the impact of the starters and the subs over the last couple of games has been pronounced and we hope to continue with that mindset because it’s a big thing over the course of the season.” The players, staff and fans shared the celebrations at the end of both games but McKenna believes it’s important to look at the bigger picture. “It’s nice, of course, you have to enjoy it when you win,” he said. “Every game in this league is difficult to win and you have to prepare well and have the right mindset and put a lot of work in to get any three points. “So we have to enjoy it when we get three points. But at the same time, we know that celebrating three points in October is certainly not the be all and end all, it’s not what we want to be celebrating at the end of the season. “We have our aims and our goals to achieve and we’re not going to be able to do them yet, and they’re the celebrations that we all want to happen and that we have in the back of our minds and in our dreams. “But for now it’s about Morecambe on Saturday and the next three points and going there as a squad determined to put in a performance, give ourselves a chance to get a result. “We have a really good fanbase coming again, so that gives us a boost and we would love to be there celebrating the victory with them at the end of the game. “But our focus needs to be on the performance and doing the right things to give ourselves the chance to do that.” He says the Shrimps can’t be taken lightly despite sitting bottom of the table at present. “I think it almost goes without saying that if there is any complacency, we won't win on Saturday. That's this league and it happens every week,” he said. “There will be results that people won't expect. Nobody will have expected Cheltenham to beat Bolton, who are on a really good run of form, [1-0] on Tuesday night. I didn't see the game, but from the outside there are results every week that you wouldn't expect. “It's up to us mentally and physically that we're not on the end of too many of those results. But it's a football match, every Saturday form and what's happened in previous games, all of these things go out the window and you start from scratch. “You have to earn the right every game to play well and put a performance in and you just hope that performance can lead you to a win. “So I think complacency certainly can't be anywhere near our vocabulary in this building. It's about being ready to fight with everything we've got on Saturday at three o’clock."
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