Kieran McKenna, Ipswich Town’s manager, knows that Bristol City, tomorrow’s visitors to Portman Road, perform best when they are the underdog.
The Blues, who are second in the Championship standings with 11 games remaining, are searching for their sixth league win in a row.
Bristol City recently eliminated West Ham from the FA Cup, pushed Nottingham Forest all the way over two games, and interrupted Southampton’s club-record 25-game undefeated streak with a 3-1 victory at Ashton Gate.
Liam Manning’s side, on the other hand, are coming off three straight defeats to lowly trio QPR (1-0 at home), Sheffield Wednesday (2-1 away), and Cardiff.
“It’s clear to see, especially with their FA Cup performances, plus the Southampton and Middlesbrough (2-1 away win) results, what a threat they can be,” McKenna remarked ahead of the televised match (8pm, Sky Sports).
“They undoubtedly excel when they play against teams that dominate the ball, even if they aren’t the game’s favourites.
“Experience tells us it’s a game we’ll have to be fully prepared for. They have a good roster of players and a skilled manager.
“I know Liam quite well now. We played against his MK side in League One. He’s a nice person and a fantastic coach, and I’m confident he’ll want to bring his team here to make an impression. It is up to us to defend against that and put up a decent performance of our own.”
Town were without important players Massimo Luongo (illness), Nathan Broadhead (thigh), and Wes Burns (calf) for Saturday’s 2-0 victory over Plymouth.
“We’ll have to see how Massimo is,” McKenna added. “Fortunately, Wes and Nathan’s muscle injuries do not appear to be serious, and they should be able to play again in the next games. We’ll have to decide if this is too soon.
“We had 18 senior outfielders in the squad at the weekend, plus Sone (Aluko) travelling with the group, so we’ve still got plenty who are training well and competing well.”
Leave a Reply