Town boss Kieran McKenna says character is the key factor behind his team’s six wins on the road so far this season, most recently Tuesday’s 3-2 success at Port Vale, which he felt was a special night for supporters witnessing midfielder Cameron Humphreys put in a full league debut to remember.

The Blues are top of the League One away form table having taken 19 points from their eight games on the road - one defeat and one draw in addition to those six wins - ahead of a trip to the Valley on Saturday.

Quizzed on what he puts that impressive form down to, McKenna said: “I think character’s always a big one when you’re looking at your away record, certainly in some of the away games we’ve had.

“Travelling from Ipswich is a long way to everywhere on the bus it seems. There are some really difficult grounds to go to in the league so if you haven’t got a united squad with a hunger and an attitude to be successful as a team, then you’re going to find it really, really tough.

“I think our attitude and our resilience in those games have been really good. Performances-wise, of course, can’t always be perfect and there have been bits of the games where we’ve played very well and bits not so well, but in general, in those away games we’ve had good commitment and found ways to win. That’s important and long may it continue.

“A different type of game and a different type of challenge on Saturday playing at the Valley compared to maybe a Burton away or a Port Vale away.

“And that’s the nature of this league. The challenges are so different week to week and sometimes midweek to weekend, and you have to build a squad with the mentality and the physicality and the tactical variation to deal with all those challenges.”

Reflecting on the win at Vale Park, which was attended by 1,725 Blues with a further 5,134 UK-based fans watching on iFollow, McKenna added: “I thought Tuesday night was really just a special night really for the supporters because however long we’re in this business and however long you support your club, there are only so many games where you’re going to go and watch an 18-year-old make his full league debut and score a cracking goal and set-up the winner.

“These are fantastic moments for the supporters to enjoy and cherish and that’s what we want to do.

“We want to enjoy the journey and enjoy it alongside our supporters. But we know momentum can be quickly lost you can’t take anything for granted and the good feelings and the good atmosphere is only helped by performances and results.

“So we have to keep fighting and keep working to get those performances and those results can keep building that bond with the supporters and keep giving them lots of days to enjoy as I think they did on Tuesday night.”

McKenna was also delighted with two-goal striker Freddie Ladapo at Vale: “He had a good game, he’s had other good games since he’s been here. I was really happy with his movement for the first goal, a really good ball and a lovely bit of double movement to arrive across the face of goal.

“So really happy with the movement for the goal and he was in the right spot again for the second goal and we managed to flash the ball across goal with the aid of a little deflection.

“Nice for him to get his goal. His all-round performance was good, as it has been on other occasions and he just needs to keep working as everyone else does, contributing and offering what he’s got to give to the team.”

Photo: Pagepix

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