| Ipswich Town 3 v 0 Hull City SkyBet Championship Tuesday, 3rd October 2023 Kick-off 19:45 |  |
McKenna: It's Going to Be a High-Level Game Monday, 2nd Oct 2023 16:19 Town host Hull City at Portman Road on Tuesday evening aiming to return to the top of the Championship. Having hit the summit following Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Huddersfield, the Blues dropped to second behind Leicester City after the Foxes’ 4-1 thrashing of Blackburn at Ewood Park on Sunday. With Leicester not in action again until Wednesday, when they are at home to third-placed Preston North End, the Blues will return to the top for 24 hours at least should they defeat the Tigers. Hull go into the match sitting fifth in the Championship, six points behind Town. On Saturday, the Tigers drew 1-1 at home to Plymouth Argyle. The visitors are unbeaten in eight with their only league loss the opening day 2-1 reverse at Norwich City. Their away form is better than their record at the MKM Stadium up to now. On home turf Hull have won one - a 4-2 defeat of Sheffield Wednesday - and then drawn four in a row, while they have recorded three victories on the bounce - 2-1 at Blackburn, 1-0 at Leicester and 3-1 at Stoke - on their travels following that defeat at Carrow Road. The Tigers have only conceded nine goals this season - to Town’s 11 - with only two clubs having shipped fewer in the Championship. “I think they’re a really good team,” manager Kieran McKenna told Town TV. “They’re well coached, very good recruitment, brought in good players in the summer, good profile, a clear style of play and it should make for a really good encounter. “No surprise that they’ve started well, we’d expect them to have a really strong season, but it’s up to us on Tuesday night to go and deliver a performance and give ourselves the best chance. That’s the challenge and that’s what we’re looking forward to.”
Quizzed on the Tigers’ impressive away form, McKenna added: “They’re a well-organised team, it’s probably fairly well documented that they play out from the back and have some good principles in how they build up, but they can defend as well when they need to. “They’ve got some good things about them as a team. We think we’ve got some things that we’re pretty good at as well and we’re playing in front of our supporters and we’ll look to go and attack the game and be really positive and try and impose ourselves in the game. “But are also going into it respecting the opponent and knowing that we’re going to defend very well as well. “A great game to look forward to, I think it’s going to be a high-level game and we can’t want to get back to Portman Road.”
Tuesday’s game is the first of two at home in five days with Preston at Portman Road on Saturday. However, McKenna says he’s not yet thinking about that match with Hull currently taking his full concentration. “We’re just focused on Hull at the moment,” he said. “A difficult opponent, it’s going to be a really good game and we’ve got all eyes on that. “Saturday will come after this one, so everything is fully focused on the next game and respecting what’s ahead of us and looking forward to a Tuesday night under the lights.” Town were without Nathan Broadhead at Huddersfield due to a thigh problem, which could keep the Wales international out of action tomorrow night, while his fellow Welshman Lee Evans limped off with a knee problem in the second half on Saturday and seems unlikely to be involved against the Tigers. McKenna says he wasn’t aware of any other new issues from Saturday’s match. “We’ll find out a little bit more today,” he added. “Lee was the concern on the day, so he’ll have a scan today and we’ll see. “But other than that I don’t think there was anything major reported from the game. We’ve still got a couple to assess today, but in general we’re in a pretty good place.” The Blues manager is pleased to have skipper Sam Morsy back after his one-match ban after reaching five bookings. “It will be [good to have him back],” he said. “We’ve got a big week now, two great home games to look forward to, a really exciting game tomorrow night. Samy will be coming back into it fresh and that’ll certainly be a boost for us.” Vaclav Hladky will be in goal with Christian Walton set to be back in contention for the weekend following his plantar fascia tear. McKenna will have to pick between Harry Clarke and Brandon Williams at right-back, while Luke Woolfenden and Cameron Burgess will continue at the centre of the defence and Leif Davis at left-back. Morsy will come back into his usual central midfield role probably alongside Massimo Luongo, unless the Australian international is rested, in which case Jack Taylor will come into the team. If Broadhead fails to make it, then McKenna could well start with the same trio behind the striker as at Huddersfield, Wes Burns, Conor Chaplin and Omari Hutchinson, although Marcus Harness could well have got himself into the thinking following his impressive display against Wolves in the Carabao Cup last week when he picked up three assists. George Hirst seems likely to start as the number nine with Freddie Ladapo playing a role from the bench in the second half.
Hull are set to be without midfielder Ozan Tufan, who it’s feared has suffered a recurrence of his recent thigh injury. But better news for manager and one-time Blues loanee Liam Rosenior is that winger Jason Lokilo and midfielder Harry Vaughan (both ankle) are expected to be available for Tuesday. Forward Allahyar Sayyadmanesh was due to be assessed on Monday following tightness in his adductor. Historically, Hull have the edge on the Blues having won 19 of the games between the teams (18 in the league), while Town have been victorious nine times (nine) and a further 11 (11) matches have been draws. Town last beat the Tigers at Portman Road in May 2008 when Jim Magilton's side ran out 1-0 victors. Since then, Hull are unbeaten in seven on Suffolk soil, winning the last six. The teams last met in Hull in February 2021 when James Norwood’s fourth goal of the season saw the Blues to a 1-0 victory. Norwood slammed home Myles Kenlock's superb wind-assisted cross-field pass in the 15th minute. In November the previous year at Portman Road, Hull left Suffolk comfortable 3-0 victors. Mallik Wilks put the visitors ahead in the second minute, Josh Magennis made it two in first-half injury time and sub Tom Eaves made it three with 13 minutes left with the Blues, never looking like they would get anything from the game. Blues forward Sone Aluko was with Hull between the summers of 2012 and 2016, making 64 starts and 44 sub appearances, scoring 15 times. The former Nigeria international was part of the team which won promotion from the Championship after finishing second in 2012/13 and played in the Premier League in the following two seasons. Tigers manager Rosenior spent 2009/10 on loan at Town from Reading under Roy Keane, making 28 starts and three sub appearances, scoring once. Town’s Wembley 2000 play-off final man of the match Richard Naylor is head of academy coaching at Hull. Tuesday’s referee is Matt Donohue from Manchester, who has shown 37 yellow cards and no red in seven matches so far this season. Donohue has refereed one previous Town match, the 1-1 draw at Morecambe in February 2022 in which he booked only Macauley Bonne and Tyreeq Bakinson. Squad from: Hladky, Slicker, Clarke, Williams, Davis, Ball, Woolfenden, Burgess, Edmundson, Baggott, Morsy, Luongo, Taylor, Humphreys, Burns, Chaplin, Broadhead, Harness, Aluko, Hutchinson, Hirst, Jackson, Scarlett, Ladapo.
Photo: TWTD Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
You need to login in order to post your comments |
   Blogs 295 bloggersIpswich Town Polls[ Vote here ] |
