| Bristol City 1 v 1 Ipswich Town EFL Championship Tuesday, 30th September 2025 Kick-off 19:45 |  |
McKenna: Away Wins Bring You Together as a Team Monday, 29th Sep 2025 12:53 Boss Kieran McKenna says away wins help bring a team together with the new-look Blues visiting Bristol City on Tuesday evening targeting their first away victory of the season. Town, who are up to 12th in the Championship, have won their last two matches, the home successes against Sheffield United and Portsmouth, but are yet to claim all three points on the road, having drawn 1-1 at Birmingham in their opening fixture and then lost 1-0 at Preston. In addition, they were defeated on penalties at Bromley in the Carabao Cup after a 1-1 draw and were 1-0 behind going into the final 10 minutes of the abandoned game at Blackburn 10 days ago. The Blues last won three in a row in March and April 2024, thrashing Sheffield Wednesday 6-0 at Portman Road, winning 1-0 at Blackburn and 3-2 against Southampton in that famous night when Jeremy Sarmiento grabbed his late, late goal. Their most recent win away was at Bournemouth in April, one of three Premier League victories on their travels in 2024/25. Last season, Bristol City finished sixth in the Championship table before comprehensively losing to Sheffield United in the play-off semi-finals, the Blades winning both legs 3-0. However, there seem no signs of a play-off hangover with the Robins, who now have Austrian Gerhard Struber in charge following Liam Manning’s departure for Norwich, fourth in the division on 12 points, but only three points more than the Blues, who have a game in hand and who will go ahead of them should they win at Ashton Gate. “A tough game, no doubt about it,” McKenna said. “Going away there on a Tuesday night is never going to be easy. They’ve had a good start to the season, have got good consistency in the group. “Quite a few players there who have played together now for quite a while, a good core of a team that have been together for a while and have played the same system for that time as well. “A really good Championship side away from home on a Tuesday night is a challenge that we look forward to. We need to show that we can go to places like that on nights like that and do well. “It’s one we’re looking forward to, it’s one we’re going to have to show a lot of different areas and qualities to get something from the game.” A 1-0 midweek away win at Southampton at about this point in the season gave the Blues a big confidence boost on the road during their Championship promotion campaign two years ago with a victory by the same scoreline under the lights at Ashton Gate a month later further enhancing that. McKenna says away victories can play a role in bringing a squad together. “They all count, every point that you pick up counts, but there’s something about winning away sometimes and we haven’t done it yet,” he said. “Winning away games, as much as your home record is really, really important and we’re building it to how we want it to be here, going away from home with your away support, fighting for a result and getting a result, those are things that really bring you together as a team as well. “We want to do that as soon as possible and the next chance to do that is on Tuesday. It’s going to be tough but it’s what we’re going to try and do.” Tuesday’s game is the second of three in eight days with the East Anglian derby against Norwich City at Portman Road following on Sunday and McKenna says rotating the team against the Robins has been under discussion. “I’ve thought about it and we’ll make the assessment,” he continued. “We went into the two games with a little bit of an idea of some changes that we might make across the two games. “But you always have to see how the players recover in the following days and speak to players on Sunday and Monday. “We have a squad and we’re going to utilise it over the next few months. What that looks like on Tuesday night, we’ll have to wait and see.” Marcelino Nunez and Ivan Azon are still to make their first starts for the club but McKenna says the players understand the situation and that they will all get their chance across a very busy period of the season. “No one’s knocking on the door, they get it,” he said. “We’ve spoken plenty with the group about the importance of the squad over a long season. “They know our schedule between now and playing Portsmouth again in January. There’s no other league campaigns like it in the world probably, unless someone could tell me a league with that many games between now and just after Christmas. “They know everyone’s going to get their opportunities to play. Everyone’s working hard in training, getting ready, knowing that their time will come to step on the pitch as a starter or as a sub and being ready to contribute when that comes.” He added: “The squad will be really important, no doubt. It’s massive in the Championship if you want to be one of the top teams in this division. “The impact that you get off the bench, the impact you get when you rotate, the impact you get when you get suspensions, Jacob Greaves missed out on Saturday and Cedric Kipre came in and did a good job. “A 47-game league season, for us [following the Blackburn abandonment], is absolutely huge, so we’re going to need to show those strengths over the weeks and months ahead.” The TeamAlex Palmer will continue in goal with McKenna having a decision to make in his backline with Greaves back after his one-match ban and Kipre having impressed in the former Hull City man’s absence. Other than that, Darnell Furlong seems likely to continue at right-back - although with Ashley Young and Ben Johnson other options - Leif Davis on the left and skipper Dara O’Shea alongside either Greaves or Kipre in the centre. In midfield, Nunez seems likely to come in for his full debut with Jens Cajuste probably not considered ready for two games in four days with another match at the weekend. Azor Matusiwa seems set to continue in his role. McKenna may look to ring more changes in the attacking positions with some of Kasey McAteer, Chuba Akpom and Jack Clarke potentially coming into the three ahead of the pivot for Sindre Walle Egeli, Sammie Szmodics and Jaden Philogene, although the Blues boss may be loath to leave out the latter given his rich vein of goalscoring form, the ex-Aston Villa man having netted four goals in his last two matches. Azon could be handed his full debut as the number nine if McKenna feels he needs to rest George Hirst, who has started all Town’s league games so far and has scored in his last two matches. Those that do drop to the bench are likely to play a part in the second half and then could return to the XI for the Norwich game on Sunday. The OppositionThe Robins are sweating on central midfielder Jason Knight, who came off in the latter stages of the weekend 0-0 draw at Preston with an ankle problem. Another midfielder, Max Bird, is out for a number of weeks with a calf injury, while keeper Max O’Leary is on the way back from an ankle issue suffered in pre-season but won't be involved against the Blues. Midfielder Joe WIlliams has been out since the end of last season, also due to an ankle problem. Prior to kick-off, former Blues and Robins midfielder Cole Skuse will be presented with a legacy cap by the club where he came through the academy and started his career. HistoryHistorically, Town have the edge over Bristol City, winning 31 (29 in the league), losing 23 (23) and drawing 14 (14). In March 2024, promotion-bound Town came from behind twice to beat Bristol City 3-2 in a topsy-turvy rollercoaster classic at Portman Road, the second-placed Blues’ sixth win on the bounce. The Robins took the lead on 54 via Anis Mehmeti, before sub Ali Al-Hamadi levelled with his first home goal for the club. Bristol City restored their lead on 77 through sub Tommy Conway, but Conor Chaplin equalised again in the 80th minute before Al-Hamadi saw a penalty saved and Davis won it in the penultimate minute with his first goal of the season. At Ashton Gate in the preceding October, Nathan Broadhead’s first-half goal saw second-placed Town to a 1-0 victory, their fifth away win in six in the Championship that season. Broadhead smashed in the only goal from George Hirst’s lay-off in the 16th minute as the Blues won at Ashton Gate for the first time since the opening day of the 2011/12 season. Familiar FacesBlues winger Wes Burns, who is around a month away from a return from his ACL injury, came through the youth system at Bristol City and went on to make six starts and 48 sub appearances for the Robins, scoring five times. Szmodics was at Ashton Gate during the 2019/20 season but having made only two starts and two sub appearances in the first half of the campaign moved to Peterborough in the January and then joined Posh on a permanent basis the following summer. A number of Town’s off-field staff moved to Portman Road following the Gamechanger 20 Ltd takeover including chairman and CEO Mark Ashton, COO Luke Werhun and director of performance Andy Rolls. City winger Josh Stokes was born in Shotley and was with the Town academy until he was released at 16. He had a spell with AFC Sudbury, before a stint at Aldershot led to his move to Ashton Gate. Midfielder Jason Knight was viewed as an alternative to Jack Taylor by the Blues in the summer of 2023 while protracted negotiations continued with Peterborough, with Knight subsequently moving from Derby to Ashton Gate later in the transfer window. OfficialsTuesday’s referee is John Busby, his assistants Paul Hodskinson and Andrew Dallison, and the fourth official Stephen Martin. Oxfordshire-based Busby has shown 24 yellow cards and no red in five games so far this season. The Blues have won their last five games when he has been in charge, the most recent the 2-1 victory at Swansea in February 2024 in which he yellow-carded Davis and one home player. Prior to that, he was in the middle for the 3-1 final-day-of-the-season League One win against a Fleetwood side featuring Burns, who scored in his last game before his move to the Blues, at Portman Road in May 2021, in which he booked only two of the visitors. He also took control of the 2-0 home victory over Blackpool in February the same year, yellow-carding Myles Kenlock, Luke Matheson and two Tangerines. The scoreline was also 2-0 to Town when he was in charge of Town when Rochdale were at Portman Road in September 2020, booking Jon Nolan and two visiting players. Before that he refereed the 2-1 win at Tranmere in January 2020 when he showed yellow cards to Emyr Huws and Will Norris as well as three home players. Busby was also in the man in the middle for the Blues’ 2-0 defeat to Rotherham at Portman Road in October 2019 when he cautioned Gwion Edwards and three Millers. Squad FromPalmer, Walton, Button, Furlong, Johnson, Young, H Clarke, Davis, O’Shea (c), Greaves, Kipre, Matusiwa, Cajuste, Taylor, Nunez, Humphreys, J Clarke, Walle Egeli, Szmodics, Philogene, McAteer, Akpom, Hirst, Azon.
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