Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna says a hard fought clean sheet was the thing that pleased him most about this afternoon's 4-0 home win against Burton Albion.

The in-form Brewers proved awkward opponents during the opening half an hour, but the Blues stood firm under a barrage of direct balls and long throws before taking control thanks to a clinical 11 minute spell in which Conor Chaplin, Nathan Broadhead and Freddie Ladapo all scored.

Chaplin added another after the break as Town secured their third 4-0 home win of 2023, third victory in a row and fourth clean sheet on the spin to remain five points adrift of second-place Plymouth.

"It's a good day's work," said McKenna. "I thought it was an outstanding clean sheet against a difficult opponent who did everything that we thought they were going to do. We had to defend a lot of balls into our box.

"The details and determination that we showed to get a clean sheet against it was the biggest part today for me.

"Of course we executed in attack very well. They pressed us man-for-man all over the pitch, which makes it a scrappy game at times, but you know you only need to execute a couple of moments well if you stay brave in terms of trying to play through that press and exploit the big spaces.

"We dug in when we needed to dig in and we were ruthless whenever the spaces appeared."

The Blues boss continued: "It was as I thought it was going to be. They've been picking up results playing this way. Against Accrington last week I think there was 36 minutes ball in play time.

"It's long throw, play it down the line, long throw, put it in your box. That doesn't make it easy to get a rhythm in your game. They pressed us man-to-man, so again that doesn't make it easy to get rhythm on the ball.

"We knew in that first spell we would have to be tough and resilient. And we knew if we did that then spaces would open up and we could exploit it. I thought we did that ever so well.

"Credit to the squad because we've spent three days prepping on the details that would make the difference against their style of play."

On Chaplin, who now has six braces and 19 goals across all competitions this season, McKenna said: "I'm delighted for him on a personal note. Good finishes again. The first goal was massive for us.

"There are not many better in those tight situations in the box. I thought, like the other forwards, his work off the ball was really good as well.

"He'll be the first to tell you that it's about how the team work those opportunities for him with movements to create space."

Massimo Luongo came off to a standing ovation in the second half after an impressive first start for the club since joining from Middlesbrough in January.

"I thought he did really well," said McKenna, when asked about the Australian midfielder.

"It's his first start since May so he's been waiting a really long time for it. You could see how much he enjoyed it.

"Like everybody else, he found it hard to get a rhythm at the start of the game and find the connections that we wanted.

"But as the game went on he got better and better and found his rhythm on the pitch. It was great to get the 75 minutes into him - he's shown what he's got to offer for us."

Leif Davis limped off in the 83rd minute. Asked about that, McKenna said: "I don't think he's too bad. I don't want to comment too much yet.

"It was great determination from Leif in that moment to make a block and he took a heavy kick. Usually you're not so worried about that. We'll have to see how it settles down."