Three goals in 11 first-half minutes ultimately set Ipswich Town on their way to a comfortable victory over Burton Albion.
After a difficult opening to the game which saw the Brewers test the Town box, the hosts took full control and blew their visitors away before the break.
Conor Chaplin netted the first, as he connected with a Wes Burns cross to finish nicely before the latter turned provider again for the second, pulling the ball back for Nathan Broadhead to slam home after arriving late in the box.
Freddie Ladapo netted the third, following a brilliant Chaplin pass through the middle, with the Blues’ mission complete before the interval.
Chaplin’s second of the afternoon added gloss after the break, with Ipswich’s third-successive victory long-secured.
The three points sees the gap to Plymouth in second remain at five points, after the Pilgrims beat Charlton, but the gap to Bolton in fourth stretch to three points after the Trotters drew at Morecambe in the early kick-off. Ipswich hold two games in hand.
Next up is a home clash with Accrington on Tuesday night.
McKenna made two changes to the side which won at MK Dons last weekend, with Massimo Luongo replacing Cameron Humphreys in the middle of midfield and Ladapo starting up top in place of George Hirst.
Christian Walton was in goal behind a back four of Harry Clarke, Luke Woolfenden, Cameron Burgess and Leif Davis, with Luongo joining skipper Sam Morsy in midfield. Burns, Chaplin and Broadhead were behind Ladapo.
Town stuttered from the start, with Burton putting the ball on top of the home defence at every opportunity, forcing some dangerous moments but ultimately no real pressure on Christian Walton’s goal.
The hosts, kicking towards the North Stand in the first half having been turned around by their visitors, worked their way into the contest by playing some direct balls of their own, but it was the Brewers who had the first real opening as a Deji Oshilaja shot landed at the feet of Dale Taylor. Fortunately the Forest loanee turned his shot wide.
The Blues looked like they could pose a nervous-looking Burton defence a threat on the counter, with Burns having a few good openings before Chaplin stung the palms of visiting keeper Craig MacGillivray, as he hit a vicious volley after Luongo had kept a deflected Broadhead cross alive.
Then, the opener. Town kept the ball for a good period in the lead-up to the opener, working it from left to right where Clarke turned down the chance to shoot some range in favour of slipping Burns away. The Welshman’s cut-back was good, finding Chaplin who was able to take a touch, turn and send the ball back across goal and into the opposite corner.
Goal two wasn’t far away and came in a similar way to the first when it did, with Clarke opening his legs to charge down the right, slipping in Burns and then watching on as the winger’s cut-back was slammed home by a late-arriving Broadhead.
From a nervous start was born a confidence that a third-successive victory had arrived, with those three points secured before the break, as goal three arrived.
Chaplin won a free-kick in the middle of the pitch, from which a Luongo high ball saw it land at the No.10’s feet, allowing him to play a beautiful through-ball which put Ladapo in the perfect position to finish well and kill the game off.
Chaplin still had time to skid a shot from outside the box just wide before the break, before Town headed to the dressing rooms with the job surely complete.
Goal number four nearly came inside two minutes of the second half beginning, with Luongo taking aim from outside the box but narrowly shooting wide, before a nervous moment saw veteran John Brayford lash a shot wide after Walton had come to punch a high ball inside the Ipswich box.
Burgess needed to make a big recovery tackle to keep out Dale Taylor, after Josh Walker had spun Woolfenden, but Town soon had their fourth of the afternoon.
This time it came down the left, with Davis pulling the ball back for Chaplin to finish nicely from the edge of the box on 69 minutes. That was Chaplin’s final touch as, with two goals to his name, he was part of a triple change which saw Broadhead and Ladapo also exit as Kyle Edwards, Marcus Harness and George Hirst entered the contest.
Harness had a low shot saved after a fourth substitution saw Luongo replaced by Humphreys, before Davis limped out of the game in the closing stages and was replaced by Donacien.
The Blues will be hoping for good news regarding their influential left-back, following an extremely positive afternoon for McKenna's men.
Ipswich Town: Walton; Clarke, Woolfenden, Burgess, Davis (Donacien, 83); Morsy, Luongo (Humphreys, 77); Burns, Chaplin (Edwards, 70), Broadhead (Harness, 70); Ladapo (Hirst, 70)
Subs: Hladky, Jackson
Burton Albion: MacGillivray; Shaughnessy, Hughes, Moon (Ashworth, 77); Brayford (Kamwa, 61), Helm (Kirk, 46), Oshilaja, Hamer; Taylor (Carayol, 72), Powell; Smith (Walker, 46)
Subs: Garratt, Lavelle
Att: 25,003 (147 Burton fans)
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