Town host Charlton Athletic at Portman Road on Tuesday for the first of two back-to-back home matches and looking to put Friday’s 2-1 defeat at Middlesbrough behind them.

The Blues’ home form is in stark contrast to their record on the road so far this season.

Having drawn their first two matches at Portman Road, Town, who are 12th with 13 points following the weekend fixtures, four points off the play-offs and eight from the top two with a game in hand, have now won their last three, most recently the 3-1 derby victory over Norwich City prior to the international break.

They now have the opportunity to extend that winning run on their own turf to five with the Addicks visiting on Tuesday and then West Brom on Saturday for a lunchtime Sky kick-off.

But on their travels, the Blues are yet to record a win, having lost two and drawn two in the Championship.

McKenna is pleased to be back at Portman Road and under the lights in midweek for the first time this season.

“You can’t look too far on the back-to-back bit, but when it comes up on the calendar and you have a couple, even just from a travelling point of view, that can help.

“It’s really nice to be back home, certainly the players and the crowd and everyone are feeling like the home performances and results are moving in a positive direction.

“But we also know that you start from scratch in each game, and you can see that in the league clearer than ever this year - you can’t take anything for granted.

“We’re expecting a really awkward team to come and make it really, really difficult for us on Tuesday night.

“We know the fact that we’ve won the last couple, we know the fact that the last one was a derby win and it’s better to have it that way than the other way around, but at the same time, especially after a couple of wins, it doesn’t count for anything.

“We’re starting from scratch on Tuesday night and we’ve got to keep doing enough of the right things in those home games and if we do that, then then wins will keep adding up.”

First goals have usually proved pivotal in Town’s matches so far with the Blues having conceded first in all their away games - including the Carabao Cup tie at Bromley and the abandoned match at Blackburn - and scored first in all their home games.

“You don’t want it to be final, so you still need to find a way to get comeback victories, but we haven’t had one of those yet,” McKenna continued. “They’re going to be important and we’ve got to develop those skills as a team to do that.

“But the first goal’s really important and without going through them all, I think in the away games that we’ve had, you can go through some of the moments that we’ve had so far to get the first goal, there have been big moments in all of them and we haven’t done it.

“That is what it is. We’ve got to try and rectify that, but for now it’s a fresh game on Tuesday night.

“We’ve got to try and start well against a team who are going to make it really difficult and you know if you get the first goal there’s a chance that it can open up a little bit more in your favour.

“And if you don’t then a difficult task can become much more difficult. We’ll keep focusing on trying to start as well as we can.”

Charlton, promoted from League One via the play-offs last season, are ninth in the table, two points ahead of the Blues having completed a game more.

While their form has been somewhat inconsistent, Addicks fans will be happy enough to see their side firmly in mid-table in their first season back in the Championship, the highest-placed of last season’s promoted League One teams.

On Saturday, they beat Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 at the Valley, where they have picked up three of their four wins.

Away from home, they won 1-0 at Sheffield United a month ago and have drawn two - 0-0 at Bristol City and 1-1 at Derby - and lost two, 3-1 at QPR and 2-0 at Preston.

“A very good start to the season,” McKenna reflected. “They’re doing really well. Clear the things they do well.

“[Manager] Nathan [Jones]’s teams always show good intensity, good energy, you know they’re going to run hard.

“Are doing really well on their set plays, can mix the game, can go long, can play some football as well. Man-to-man defending which is always a different challenge, especially when you don’t face it very often.

“So, lots of challenges in there that they’ve given all the teams and they’ve been a really trick opponent for everyone and we are expecting a tricky opponent on Tuesday, and we know we’re going to have to do well.”

Regarding Jones, he added: “I don’t know him very well, to be honest, but a good manager, a pleasant guy whenever we’ve played against them.

“Not someone I know personally very, very well, but he’s got a really strong record with a lot of different clubs.”

The teams last met competitively in 2022/23, the Blues’ League One promotion season when the Addicks scrambled a remarkable 4-4 draw at the Valley having been 4-2 behind six minutes into injury time and Town won the Portman Road fixture 6-0 as they closed in on a return to the Championship.


Asked for his favourite memories of those games, McKenna laughed: “Not the 4-4 draw! They seem a lifetime ago. I’ve not thought about them in the context of this game one per cent. It feels a different era.

“I think they’ve got no relation. We’ve had a couple of really good days against them, had one draw that certainly felt like a really bad day, but this is brand new occasion, a new team, a different division and we start from scratch.”

Similarly, McKenna has given little consideration to the pre-season friendly between the teams in July, which Town won 2-1 at the JobServe Stadium, Colchester.

“Zero credence,” he said. “It was a pre-season friendly and I think the qualities they have as a team don’t tend to translate strongly to pre-season friendlies.

“We know facing them in competitive action is completely different and I think it’s a completely different challenge tomorrow night.”

The Team

McKenna has said he will make changes from the team which lost at Boro - one forced as Azor Matusiwa is suspended having reached five bookings - and it’s likely a number of those who have been largely on the fringes will come into the XI.

Alex Palmer will be in goal, while Ashley Young could replace Darnell Furlong at right-back.

Skipper Dara O’Shea seems certain to keep his place but Jacob Greaves may well return for Cedric Kipre as the left-sided centre-half, while it would be a huge surprise if Leif Davis isn’t at left-back.

Marcelino Nunez appears the most likely option to replace Matusiwa, the Chilean international making his first home start since joining the Blues in the summer.

McKenna may decide Jens Cajuste has had enough downtime since the Middlesbrough match to start alongside the former Canaries man, but if not Jack Taylor could be given the nod to make his first Championship start of the season.

As in the last midweek match at Bristol City, the Blues boss may make widespread changes to his attacking four with Ivan Azon appearing likely to be handed his first Portman Road start as the number nine.

Behind him, Chuba Akpom could start as the number 10 with Jack Clarke to his left and Kasey McAteer to his right.

Those dropping out will get their chance from the bench in the second half.

The Opposition

Striker Matty Godden is on the way back after undergoing knee surgery in the summer, while defender Josh Edwards is currently sidelined having had an ankle op.

History

The Blues, who have scored at least four goals in each of their last three competitive games against the South Londoners, just have the edge historically, winning 25 games (21 in the league), Charlton 20 (17) and with 13 (12) ending in draws.

Unusually for sides in the same division, Town and the Addicks faced one another in pre-season at the JobServe Community Stadium in Colchester in July when Clarke and Ali Al-Hamadi were on target as the Blues won their penultimate friendly 2-1.

Town were on top throughout with all the goals coming in the second half, while Young made his first appearance for the club as a sub alongside Omari Hutchinson, playing what proved to be his final game for the club.

The teams last met competitively in League One at Portman Road in April 2023 when Town returned to second in the table after hammering 10-man Charlton 6-0, Conor Chaplin hitting a hat-trick, Freddie Ladapo a brace and Davis one.

Chaplin netted his first treble for the Blues in the seventh, 14th and 70th minutes, before sub Ladapo added his pair on 75 and 84, the Addicks had Ryan Inniss dismissed and Davis struck in injury time as Town recorded their biggest league win under Kieran McKenna, which has since been equalled twice.

At the Valley in the preceding October, the Blues twice let two-goal leads slip in a bizarre, topsy-turvy game which ended 4-4 with four goals in injury time.

George Edmundson and Tyreece John-Jules put the Blues 2-0 in front but the Addicks hit back through Jesurun Rak-Sakyi and Albie Morgan.

However, in injury time, Town restored their two-goal advantage through Ladapo and skipper Sam Morsy but Terell Thomas and George Dobson netted in the sixth and ninth minutes of the additional time to claim an astonishing point for the home side.

Familiar Faces

Blues third-choice keeper David Button spent one season at Charlton, 2012/13, making six starts.

Addicks right-back James Bree, who is on loan for the season from Southampton, had a spell on loan with the Blues in the second half of the 2018/19 Championship relegation season, making 13 starts and one sub appearance.

Former Town striker Gassan Ahadme joined Charlton from Town in the summer of 2024 but is currently on loan at Stevenage.

Officials

Tuesday’s referee is Farai Hallam, his assistants Alistair Nelson and Bhupinder Singh Gill, and the fourth official Ruebyn Ricardo.

Surrey-based Hallam was a professional footballer for four years and is now in his fourth season as an EFL referee, taking charge of his first Championship games last term.

From 2017 until 2021, he worked as the FA’s senior referee officer and then national referee manager.

Hallam, who has shown 30 yellow cards and no red in seven games so far this season, has refereed one previous Town match, the 5-0 hammering of Sheffield United last month in which he yellow-carded only two of the visitors.

Squad From

Palmer, Walton, Button, Furlong, Johnson, Young, H Clarke, Davis, O’Shea (c), Greaves, Kipre, Cajuste, Taylor, Nunez, Humphreys, J Clarke, Walle Egeli, Szmodics, Philogene, McAteer, Akpom, Hirst, Azon.

Photo: TWTD