Kieran McKenna could not fault Ipswich in win over Shrewsbury

Posted Sunday, March 19, 2023 by PA

Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna was delighted with his team’s performance following the 2-0 victory over Shrewsbury.

Town kept up the pressure on the top two in League One with goals from George Hirst and Massimo Luongo, securing a sixth consecutive win that moved them two points behind second-placed Plymouth.

McKenna said: “It was a good performance against a difficult team as we thought it would be.

“We have done lots of good things, scored a really good goal to open the game up, had other chances in the first half but it was never going to be easy against a Shrewsbury team that defends their goal really well with lots of bodies.

“We had lots of pressure around their goal and lots of chances without getting big clear-cut chances because you don’t have many of them against Shrewsbury but we created right through the game, looked a threat, scored a good second goal from Massimo as well and I thought we defended in general well throughout the game.

“You’re never comfortable at one or two nil even against a team like Shrewsbury. They put the ball in the box so quickly and every set-piece is an opportunity to load the box. You have to stand up to that and I thought in general we did that very well.”

Shrewsbury had a couple of chances but Ipswich goalkeeper Christian Walton kept out a Luke Leahy header while Chey Dunkley struck the crossbar.

Shrews boss Steve Cotterill said he was disappointed with the two goals his team gave away which he said were both “preventable”.

Cotterill said: “We’re disappointed with the goals given away.

“We can’t afford to have a couple of lads missing. I think that our lads could have played a bit better than they did today.

“I think Ipswich are probably the strongest team we have played all season. They’re really too big a club to be in League One so it’s difficult to compete when you come to places like this. All in all the lads give what they can.

“It’s always disappointing to concede a goal. How we defended both goals today they were both preventable. It isn’t something that we haven’t already spoken about this week and it’s nothing new but sometimes you come up against a team when there’s not a lot that we can do.

“When you come up against sides like that they can put five subs on and them five would probably get in our starting line-up and it’s a fantastic luxury.”