Town boss Kieran McKenna is happy with the striker options at his disposal, despite not adding another frontman on deadline day.

The Blues were looking to sign another striker with talks with Chelsea regarding the loan of Armando Broja revived - before Town eventually walked away and the Albanian international joined Everton - while talks regarding a late deal to sign Arsenal winger Reiss Nelson broke down in the final minutes.

Asked whether he was disappointed not to make 13th senior signing of the summer, McKenna said: “I don’t think we can say disappointed because we brought in 12 players, if you count Omari, who was with us last year, but it’s pretty much exactly there or thereabouts the numbers that we wanted to bring into the club.

“We end up with a squad of maybe 24 outfielders, about half of them have been with us on the journey, half of them are new. It’s a pretty good balance that we’re happy with.

“We’ve brought in some really good players to the football club, we’ve stuck to the plan, we’ve invested our bigger fees in young players with potential to grow and improve but who have good physical and technical qualities, and you can see some of them how they’re performing already out there.

“We’ve brought in some good, experienced professionals, who have worked really hard to get to the Premier League, who are starving hungry to make their impact and we’ve brought in some loans, who have high calibre and we think can help us.

“I don’t think we can come away from the window disappointed. Of course, you always want the squad to be as good as it can be. We’ve had two seasons in a row now of being a newly promoted team and you don’t get every target that you want, that’s the reality.

“We know in the pool that we’re swimming in in the Premier League, we’re not going to get every target or every player that we’re interested in, but that’s happened over the last two summers as well.

“I’m really happy that we’ve worked really hard, the club have invested to bring in players who will help us. We’ve been really stringent in terms of trying to stick to our plan, trying to bring in good characters, being really stringent on that as well, bringing people who will fit the ethos of what we have.

“And I think we’re left with a group that are desperate to do well for themselves in the Premier League and desperate to do well for the football club and all want to be here.

“I think that’s a pretty positive place to be and I’m looking forward to working with this group now for the next four months until the [January] window and the next 10 months or whatever it is of the season, and I’m sure they’re going to do some good things in the division.”

Asked whether Liam Delap’s performance and first goal for the club makes him more confident that the 22-year-old has what it takes and that he has enough firepower in his squad, McKenna said: “I never lacked confidence in Liam, I have to say, and that’s why we’ve invested so much in him.

“People probably felt it was a big fee at the time, whatever we’ve paid for him, but I think he’s showing that he’s got great potential.

“We’ve got real faith in Liam and we’re really enjoying working with him and I feel that he can, and already is, impacting things at Premier League level.

“But we want to be as deep and as strong in every position as we can and we know that we’re in a position where, hopefully, George Hirst will get back fit fairly soon and we’re going to have three strikers, which is what we wanted.

“Those three strikers are all going to be young, all playing Premier League football for the first time and are all going to be learning and gaining from the experience all the time.

“That’s where we are. We would have liked to have added to that depth if possible but it wasn’t the right thing for the club, or there wasn’t the right opportunity for the club to do so, so we’re really happy with the three boys that we have.

“Of course, we hope to get them all back fit and then we’ve got three, young, hungry strikers with good physical attributes, who are desperate to do well for themselves and for the club, and that’s a pretty good place to be.”

Photo: Matchday Images

Mark added 20:09 - Aug 31 It was an impressive window, and certainly gives us a chance of staying up. Delap was superb today, and could become the best striker I have ever seen play for Ipswich. I was uncomfortable about committing £30M in a year's time on Broja, and hopefully Hirst and Al Hamadi will prove able support to him.
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Karlosfandangal added 20:52 - Aug 31 Mark Agree with you I was uncomfortable with the deal I will follow Broja with interest……he must be a very good prospect as Town really push to sign him and Everton soon jumped in at the end. Hope he is not another Kevin Phillips
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Liamblue93 added 20:59 - Aug 31 Although Delap was impressive today and looked strong, I don't think he's the finished article yet or Hirst when he's back. I would still look at free agents for another striker at the likes of Martial, Delay, Maxi Gomez or Choupo-Moting.
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algarvefan added 22:31 - Aug 31 I think Hirst and Delap will be excellent for us, Hirst for me is an intelligent deft striker and Delap full bodied and strong, with Ali backing up it's looking good. I must say though as an all rounder up front today I thought Smodicks was immense, he had an amazing game.
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johnwarksshorts added 07:16 - Sep 1 Delay looked strong against Fulham, scored a great goal and was a handful for Fulham defenders. He is still young and under McKenna he will improve.
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johnwarksshorts added 07:17 - Sep 1 **Delap*
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BobbyBell added 09:46 - Sep 1 Liamblue93. Of course Delap is not the finished article, that's why we bought him. A finished article would be massively out of our price range. We are investing for the future. If KM works his magic on these new signing then we get bargains and the value of our squad increases massively.
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FabianMalyon added 10:40 - Sep 2 Can't help but wonder if we've got enough in defence.. Early days of course and some individual errors cost us goals in the first 2 games. I always back us to score but, unfortunately, I always assume we're going to concede. Scoring more than the opposition may be a viable tactic in League 1 and the Championship but I'm not sure it will work in this league. Defensive cover may be the focus in Jan. In KM we trust though!

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Linkboy13 added 17:23 - Sep 2 The fact we got a point Saturday with half a new team still bedding in makes me confident for the season and not negative like some on here. Delap dispite virtually no experience of premier league football has been remarkable. We all know Hirst is a very good championship player but can he do it at a physically higher level. Delap has already proven he can and is getting better and is physically better equipped for the Premier league so Hirst will have to be patient and bide his time.

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