Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna delighted to make it five straight wins at Plymouth

Posted Sunday, March 03, 2024 by PA

Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna was delighted his side made it five wins in a row as they moved back up to second in the Sky Bet Championship with a 2-0 win at Plymouth.

A 63rd-minute own goal from Brendan Galloway and Kieffer Moore volley secured the win, while Argyle’s Mickel Miller hit a post and saw Town defender Luke Woolfenden clear his volley off the line.

McKenna said: “To win five in a row, when we have had some tough away games, that consistency is really pleasing.

“It was a really solid performance. Our organisation was good, our discipline was good and we were really competitive.

“We came out on top in more than our fair share of challenges and that gave us a really good foothold in the game in the first half.

“We knew it was going to be difficult. We knew we were going to have to stand up to a really strong home atmosphere and we had to stand up in difficult conditions, weather and pitch-wise.

“We did that really well and that gave us a really good platform at half-time to know we could push on…if we kept doing the right things, kept limiting their threats, we knew the chances would come our way and it was another really good second-half performance.

“We haven’t had too many games like this one. It was quite stop-start.

“We always back our fitness, our style, to some point it was not easy in the first half.

“We really felt confident that it would come good for us in the second half.

“The goal took a really big deflection but we had created chances either side of the goal so we felt a goal was coming.”

Argyle head coach Ian Foster said: “We don’t like losing games of football, especially here at Home Park, and obviously we are just really disappointed with the manner of the goal.

“It’s an unfortunate one for us. The shot was going wayward and it’s just hit Brendan and unfortunately ricocheted into the goal.

“The manner of that type of goal can affect you psychologically.

“It’s been an incredibly tough run of games here and we’ve given it our best shot, two of those teams we have played have shared second place today.

“We’ve tried to have right go – and I think we’ve done that again.

“We have shown that we can bounce back, so hopefully we can do that on Tuesday at Sheffield Wednesday.

“The players have been outstanding, fabulous.

“The first goal has just taken the wind out of our sails a little bit.

“If you look at their record, Ipswich have lost the least amount of games. We managed to stick with them for 63 minutes and then conceded a freak goal.

“If I have one criticism of us we didn’t react positively enough to that goal, and I get it, but you have to bounce back and show a little more resilience and character. But I don’t want to be too critical of the players.

“We can only take control of the next 90 minutes. We go to Sheffield Wednesday with confidence. We know the job in hand and have to go up there and give it our best.

“We haven’t lacked belief in any game, we go into every game trying to win. Today was a disappointing one for us but we won’t get too down about it.

“It’s just about taking it one game at a time. We won’t dwell on it, we just move on and get excited about the next game.”