Woolfenden: It's an Unbelievable Feeling Sunday, 30th Apr 2023 09:47 Town defender Luke Woolfenden says it was an “unbelievable feeling” as the Blues were promoted to the Championship following a 6-0 thrashing of Exeter City at Portman Road. The party atmosphere was in full swing as Town raced into a 5-0 lead inside just 32 minutes thanks to goals from Conor Chaplin (two), Massimo Luongo, George Hirst and Nathan Broadhead. Wes Burns added a sixth goal early in the second half as the Blues confirmed their return to the second tier after four years away. Woolfenden soaked up the occasion and paid tribute to the supporters, who have been starved of any reasonable success for almost a generation. He said: “Unbelievable afternoon. The fans have waited a long, long time for that, since we left to Premier League really, it's an unbelievable feeling. “The fans really helped today, we got the early goal and then it was party football, we were having a great time. “Everyone knew the occasion but all season the gaffer [Kieran McKenna] has been on us that the game is the most important thing. “To be fair, today I think this game was the most important one and we went out there and put them to the sword.” Earlier in the afternoon, the team bus was greeted upon arrival at Portman Road by a sea of blue, with thousands of supporters lining the streets to welcome the players to the ground with smoke, flags and banners. “It was unbelievable,” Woolfenden said. “When you give them a reason to get behind you, they're up there with the best. “There are teams in the Premier League that will never have scenes like that, they’ll never have fans like that. Being a town that’s in the middle of nowhere, it really is unbelievable.” The 24-year-old has been revitalised under Kieran McKenna when it looked as though his time at Portman Road was coming to an end having joined the club at the age of 11. When asked what promotion with Ipswich means to him, Woolfenden said: “It’s tough to put into words. It was a horrible place to be in the last few years before the gaffer came in, thankfully now we’ve turned a corner and, like I said in the summer, there’s no better place to be than Ipswich right now.” Woolfenden had plenty of support from friends and family in the stands and said he could not wait to step out onto the pitch, adding that he struggled to sleep the night before due to excitement. “I don’t know about the rest of the boys, I was just excited,” he said. “I didn’t really sleep well last night, I was just so excited and couldn’t wait to get out there. The rest of the boys were probably the same, we were all just buzzing and having a great time. “A few of my mates are here, my old man’s obviously here, my mum’s here, my little girl was here. It was a bit loud for her but, other than that, they were having a great time enjoying it all. “My girlfriend is out there now and my mum’s still in their box, I don’t know where my old man’s gone but he’s just having a great time. It’s unbelievable.” The defender could not help but mention the fans at every opportunity, with the connection between himself and the Blue Army apparent in the celebrations after the final whistle. He said: “I'm probably repeating myself a lot but when you give them a reason to get behind you, they're always behind you. “They’ll back you to the hills and they’re probably up there with the most passionate group because, like I said, this town’s in the middle of nowhere and there’s nothing near it. “The club is probably the heartbeat of the town and you’ll see tonight everything will be crazy. Even coming in, there’s people that have come outside the ground but we’re driving past random bus stops and people are clapping you and waving. You can see how much it means to the town, it is unbelievable.”  The former East Bergholt High School pupil also hailed his teammates, adding that the 2022/23 promotion-winning squad is the best he has ever been involved with. He said: “Hirsty [George Hirst] has come in on loan, players are on contract to the end of the season, but we’ve all bought into it. We’re a band of brothers, we love each other, it’s not like a dressing room where there’s cliques and people don’t talk to people. “We’re all one family really and it’s probably the best dressing room that I’ve ever been in.” On the next few days of celebrations, Woolfenden added: “I couldn’t tell you, I’ve never done this before! I’ll leave that to the gaffer, I’m just going to have a great time tonight and then we’ll see where it takes us.” Woolfenden suggested Town’s electric start, which set them on their way to a 13th win and 12th clean sheet in 14 matches, was helped by the Grecians not having anything to play for. “I don't think anyone really expected it,” he said. “When you get to the end of the season and teams are safe and don't really have anything to play for, you know they can try things for next season. That probably played into our hands a bit and we were confident coming into it that would happen and it did.” With one League One fixture remaining away at Fleetwood Town next Sunday, Woolfenden knows there is still a job to be done as the Blues remain in with a chance of winning the title on the final day. He said: “The fans want 100 points and 100 goals, it’s what we want as well so we want to go there and win. We know it’s not in our hands, we can’t just win the league if we win and Plymouth win. “I don’t want to say it’s job done as we want to win the league, but we’ve got promoted and we’re back to where we wanted to be. “It’s now about focusing on finishing the season strongly and giving the travelling fans something to celebrate at Fleetwood and then we’ll have a great summer.” On the prospect of taking on bitter rivals Norwich City again next season, Woolfenden said: “I’ve been wanting to play in the derby since I made my debut. I was gutted that I’ve never had the chance, but hopefully next year they don’t scrape play-offs so we can have one next season!”
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