Ipswich have moved top of the division – and boss Kieran McKenna has had his say on the automatic promotion landscape.
Boss Kieran McKenna has refuted an Ipswich Town suggestion and says pressure for promotion is not on his side.
Defeats for Ipswich’s key promotion rivals Leeds United and Leicester City offered McKenna’s side the chance to pull three points clear at the top of the Championship on Saturday afternoon but the Tractor Boys had to settle for a 1-1 draw at home to Middlesbrough.
McKenna, though, insisted that that a second consecutive draw did not leave him frustrated and said there could not be pressure on his side to go up having only come up to the Championship as League One runners-up last term
Ipswich now sit one point ahead of Leicester who have played one game less and two points ahead of third-placed Leeds on the same amount of games.
“I thought it was a brilliant game, I thought the performance was excellent against a good side and I was really proud of how we went about our business.
“I thought we played brave, we played confident, tactically it was a really good battle, we created plenty of chances to win the game and I thought it was a really good performance.
“The players are giving everything and what’s more pleasing for me is the performance. The end of the season, forget how many points that we’ll get, I don’t think they’re going to leave an ounce of effort out there.
“I really liked how we went about our business and at the end of the day we pick up a point from a really good performance and we’ve got a little bit of recovery now and we can look forward to the last week and three great games.”
Ipswich now have 13 days without a game due to Coventry City’s involvement in the FA Cup, McKenna’s side not returning to action until the evening of Saturday, April 27 when they visit Hull City.
By then, Leeds and Leicester will have both played twice, Daniel Farke’s Whites away at Middlesbrough a week on Monday and then taking on Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road on the Friday night.
Leicester face West Brom at the King Power next Saturday lunchtime before taking in their game in hand away at Southampton on the Tuesday night. Pressed on whether that schedule put Leeds and Leicester under greater pressure, McKenna reasoned: “I don’t know. We’re coming from such a different place. If you asked me who’s under more pressure, I’m pretty sure everyone would agree it’s not us; where we’re coming from, how this group’s performed.
“Eighty-nine points at this stage of the season, the highest ever of a Championship team (following promotion), I’m not sure anyone in the history of the EFL has ever got 90 points two seasons in a row. We’re one point away from doing it.
“I don’t feel any pressure, I don’t think the boys do. I don’t think that’s anything to do with why we’ve drawn today. I think it was a really good game in isolation.
“I can’t speak for them (the other challengers). I can imagine their mindset and environment is possibly a little bit different than ours.”
