Kieran McKenna likes what he sees from Ipswich

Posted Wednesday, February 09, 2022 by PA

Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna admits he is enjoying watching his side play as they continue to find their feet under his leadership.

Town triumphed 1-0 over bottom-placed Doncaster courtesy of a Tyreeq Bakinson strike but were dominant throughout the game as they kept pace with the play-off chasing pack in League One.

He said: “I enjoyed watching us play. I thought we had good control of the game in the first half, took the ball really well, but we had that extra bit of penetration and thrust.

“Our movement off the ball was really good, we found spaces behind the midfield, we ran down the sides, we got crosses in, we had more bodies in the box, more service to the striker.

“Our counter pressure was good. We didn’t allow them to play or build into our half at all.”

Ipswich have kept five clean sheets in their last eight matches, with McKenna understandably pleased with their solidity.

But he puts down their defensive resolve to the ability to keep possession rather than having backs to the wall.

“The clean sheets are going to be important for us,” he said.

“It’s definitely not come from lots of defending and letting the other team have the ball.

“If we keep the ball and control the game in the opposition’s half of the pitch as much as possible then we’re going to be better defensively.

“Doncaster went to Sunderland on Saturday and put on a really, really good counter-attacking performance so we knew tonight it was going to be important for us to keep and control the ball.”

Doncaster boss Gary McSheffrey said it was clear some of his players were struggling with the demands on their fitness in another intense game.

Rovers were well worthy of their win at Sunderland at the weekend but had difficulty replicating their efforts against Ipswich’s free-flowing football.

“It was the first time that I’ve been able to put the same team out,” McSheffrey said.

“We had a good win at the weekend and think you’ve got to put the same team out.

“But I think it showed where we are with some of the players at the moment. We’ve got lads that are just starting out for this season who weren’t playing much and others coming back from injury who are running on fumes.

“We were forced to make a couple of substitutions that meant we couldn’t impact the final third when we were 1-0 down.

“The Saturday-Tuesday was a bit of a struggle in terms of our intensity. We need to be ready to go again Saturday.

“As good as Ipswich’s play was in the build-up, we defended well inside our own box. To give away the goal so cheaply was massively disappointing. In the second half we stopped their free-flowing football.”