Town boss Kieran McKenna felt his side’s 3-1 victory over Sheffield Wednesday at Portman Road was a game of two halves performance-wise.

The Blues toiled in the first period but went in 1-0 in front after Cedric Kipre headed his second goal of the season.

After the break, Jaden Philogene added the second before the visitors pulled one back through Liam Cooper.

Jack Clarke sealed the victory with three minutes left on the clock, coincidentally the same three Town scorers in the same order as in the East Anglian derby victory over Norwich City by the same scoreline in October.

“The two halves were different, really,” McKenna said. ‘I think the first half there was certainly a lot of tension in the performance.

“I thought the first 10 minutes were pretty positive, had a decent chance with George [Hirst], then we made a couple of mistakes which brought them back into the game.

“There were a succession of set plays with the ball close to where we don’t want it to be, close to our goal, and we struggled to get rhythm and confidence in the game at that point.

“It was a tense first half. Good to get the goal from a set play, really important, really good for Cedric and for the group, so that put us into a good position going into half-time and we knew at half-time we had to play better in the second half and I thought we did, to be fair.

“I thought the second half for the most part we played really well. Created lots and lots of big chances, should have had more goals.

“But there was still a spell there in the second half where we missed some big chances for the third goal and then we conceded a big chance and a goal straight afterwards on a set play.

“And then a game that you haven’t killed off is alive again, although they didn’t have any chances after that, you can never be confident at 2-1.

“I think everyone was happy to see the third goal go in and then from there we could have scored quite a few more goals today.

“Lots to take from the game today, happy with the three points and lots to take from it.”

McKenna reiterated that his squad is still a work in progress: “I think that’s going to be the case for a while yet, so while it is we’ve just got to keep working hard, try and stick together, try and keep improving and really importantly keep picking up points.”

The Blues boss was pleased that his subs once again made an impact with Clarke’s goal the 10th in the league from a Town sub, the former Sunderland man having bagged five of them himself.

“I’ve said it loads, it’s been a big part of our success in previous seasons and in the first half of the season again we’re clear at the top for goal interventions off the bench,” he said.

“It’s a great sign for the group, a sign of the togetherness of the group first and foremost and having the quality options as well. Good to have that impact again.”

Reflecting further on Clarke’s goal, he added: “I haven’t seen it back yet, but it was a bit of a funny one, it looked like he’s overrun it and then he’s found a toe.

“I think there’s a particular corner of that six-yard box down there that’s a bit lucky for him, where he seems to get on the end of a lot of things.

“I thought he played really, really well when he came on, I have to say. Some brilliant moments of quality and nice for him to get the goal as well.”

Marcelino Nunez picked up his fourth assist in five games when he laid on Philogene’s goal, the Blues’ top scorer’s eighth of the campaign.

“He’s doing well,” McKenna said regarding the Chilean international. “I think everyone’s said, he’s a pleasure to have around. A happy, positive person and really versatile. He’s landed into that number 10 role and is doing a good job.”


The win moved the Blues up to third with results around and above them largely going in their favour.

“That doesn’t impact my day too much, to be honest,” McKenna insisted. “I think we know it’s really tight and, as I said yesterday, at the moment if we win, things look a lot rosier, if we don’t then they don’t.

“Of course, we want to win but we know there are so many games coming up, the league’s really tight, there are four games in quick succession now and lots of points to play for.

“We’ve never spent time or energy in any season focusing on what anyone else is doing, so we’ve just got to get ourselves ready for the Christmas games now. Be ready to go and give everything in each game, get as many points as we can and then maybe we’ll have a little look at the table after the break.

“Hopefully, we’ll be in a pretty good position, but there’s still a lot of football to be played this year.”

Photo: TWTD