Burgess: Nothing is Defined This Time of Year Sunday, 15th Jan 2023 09:33 by Blair Ferguson Town fans left Portman Road disappointed after Plymouth grabbed a late leveller to claim a 1-1 draw from yesterday’s top-of-the-table clash at Portman Road, but centre-back Cameron Burgess says nothing in the race for promotion will be defined by the result. Wes Burns gave Ipswich the lead in the 62nd minute with a thunderous strike, but Town couldn't hold out for the win with on-loan Norwich full-back Bali Mumba scoring a deflected 93rd-minute equaliser. The result leaves Ipswich third, seven points behind the first-placed Pilgrims with a game in hand, while a 1-0 win for Sheffield Wednesday away to Wycombe means the gap to second has grown to four points. However, Burgess is resolute that Ipswich are still well in the fight. Despite the disappointment of the result and the Blues failing to make up ground on the Pilgrims, Burgess says the outcome of the promotion race won’t have been defined by yesterday's game. “One hundred per cent,” he insisted. “It never is at this time of year. I think it's about putting yourself in a position come the last few months of the season and that's our aim, and that's what we do one game at a time, the old cliché. “A good training week next week and go again. I'm sure if we keep doing that and keep doing the right things, we'll be there or thereabouts. “Peaks and troughs and swings and roundabouts and all the old sayings. It's really going to come down to just knuckling down, taking it one game at a time, putting in the right performances, and they give you the points at the end of the day. “That's what all the teams at the top have done so far and it's just about keeping doing what we do well, and we'll see where it leaves us at the end of the season.” Burgess was left especially frustrated with Mumba’s late leveller having deflected off him on its way into the top corner. “That's two that's come off me now and gone into the top corner,” he recalled ruefully, Fleetwood’s similarly last-gasp equaliser having also caught him on its way through. “But that's football. Sometimes it goes over the stands and sometimes it goes in the top corner, and you just have to take it on the chin, I suppose. It's just hard to take when it's in 90-odd minutes. That's the hard part to take.  “You try and do the right thing and sometimes it comes back to bite you a little bit and a bit of bad luck, and it goes in the top corner. “It is very frustrating when you're the team that's leading and then you concede a late goal, and it's happened to us a couple of times this season. “Another deflected shot that goes in the top corner. Overall frustrated, but we know it was a tough game overall and a bitter pill to swallow, but there are a lot of positives to playing against a top team like that. “It was a great advert for the league, to be honest. Two top teams going at each other and it was a great game to be involved in. Two teams really going at each other and not holding anything back, and I think that lasted the full game.” Unusually at Portman Road this season, Town found themselves up against a team looking to take the game to them. “Something a little bit different to what’s happened in recent weeks, but not something we weren’t prepared for,” he added. “We’ve seen that in the first game down at their place and we knew what they were going to bring. So it was something that we were definitely prepared for. But it was a nice one to be involved in.” "Regarding the conditions with rain falling very heavily from late in the first half into the second, he said: “It’s the same for both teams. More so the wind than the rain to be honest, a swirling wind and trying to defend some of the balls in the air, it was difficult to read at times. “A lot times when the pitch it wet it does make the ball move a lot quicker which seems to suit us as well and I suppose a team like Plymouth who also like to play football. Again, the conditions are the same for both teams.” Burgess paid tribute to the atmosphere at Portman Road with the crowd a sell-out 29,069, the highest since May 2015 and the club’s biggest ever attendance in the third tier. “A lot of things were a blur in that game with the atmosphere and the occasion and things like that. It just kind of flew past, to be honest,” the 27-year-old admitted. “It was brilliant coming out of the tunnel. It was a special occasion to come out and see all the numbers and everywhere you looked there wasn't an empty seat. A great game to be involved in and proud to be involved in it.” The noise hit its apex when Burns scored: “Some strike, wasn't it? He can certainly kick a ball hard, that's for sure. I don't think there's anyone stopping that. But a great finish and a great goal. “Honestly, you couldn't hear much. Even talking to your teammate next to you, you really had to shout loud to get messages across. But that's what we're all here for and that's what we want to be involved in, and it was great to play in front of. “Everyone has come to this club to enjoy that atmosphere. It's brilliant to play in front of and I know the fans know that, and they've definitely made their voices heard today.”
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