Ipswich Town: Kieran McKenna on 1-0 win at Sheffield Wednesday
Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna said this afternoon’s 1-0 win at Sheffield Wednesday was a sign of how much his team has improved in recent months.
Conor Chaplin’s goal just before half-time ended up proving the difference, but the scoreline didn’t reflect the Blues’ dominance in a game between two newly-promoted sides.
Five wins from the opening six games has Town third in the Championship table, while winless Wednesday are second-bottom.
“I loved the game, the performance and, of course, the result,” said McKenna. “That felt like a big one for us today.
“I lost one of my first games here (1-0 in Jan ’22), then we had two really even games against them last year (both games finishing 2-2).
Conor Chaplin puts Ipswich Town ahead at Sheffield Wednesday just before half-time. (Image: Steve Waller)
“But in the first half of this game, if I’m honest, it didn’t look like two teams who were competing evenly last year.
“It’s a nice reference for the boys to feel their improvement against some really good players who’ve they’ve battled against for many years.
“I think it was really big for us to come here and win. This is a barometer for us as a team.”
Reflecting on the game, he said: “First half, coming back from international duty, I thought we imposed ourselves on the game, dominated the game, carved through their pressure a few times, created some big opportunities, pressed well and didn’t give them anything. I thought it was an excellent performance. We got the goal just before half-time and we probably deserved a bit more than that.
“It was the same at the start of the second half. Probably by 65 minutes we should have been two or three-nil up.
Goalscorer Conor Chaplin gets a hug from team-mate Wes Burns following Ipswich Town’s 1-0 win at Sheffield Wednesday. (Image: Steve Waller)
“That large chunk of the game was really, really pleasing, but on the other hand the last 20 minutes was really pleasing as well because when you don’t get the second goal you have to see the game out in a different way.
“We had to defend with organisation and resiliance, dig in and take care of the details on set plays. To do that against Sheffield Wednesday, this crowd, with the wind going against the goal we were defending – that was a terrific thing for the boys to go through.”
With Freddie Ladapo and George Hirst both spurning golden chances to score either side of Chaplin’s finish, McKenna said: “I thought we had a couple of absolutely picture perfect moves for us on what we like to do, going through the pitch quick and getting through teams, behind teams and arriving in goalscoring positions.
“At the other end we gave away very little. It shows good growth as a team. Last year we were 2-0 up here and we didn’t manage to manage the game right, giving away a goal from a set play.
Ipswich Town sub George Hirst sees an effort saved by Sheffield Wednesday keeper Devis Vasquez. (Image: Steve Waller)
“I think we’ve learned a lot over the last 12 months about that phase of the game and how to manage games – the discipline required, the details required, how to defend our final third without sagging into the box too much. We did that really well today.”
The only negative thing for Town this afternoon was the sight of Leif Davis limping off moments after he’d assisted Chaplin’s opener with a cool cut-back.
“I haven’t had a medical report yet,” said McKenna, when asked about the influential left-back.
“I saw him at half-time, he’s landed on his ankle, twisted it and got stood on at the same time – that’s usually not a great mixture. He’s in a boot. It’s a case of seeing how it is over the next 24 hours.”
He continued: “When you have to make an early change like that you lose one of your stoppages. That made it tricky in the second half. Wes (Burns) needed to come off as he was feeling really, really tight in his hamstring on 70 minutes or whatever it was.
“It meant more players than we would have wanted had to play the full 90 minutes. We’ll have to assess how everyone is now for Tuesday (at Southampton).”
