Ipswich Town 4-3 Blackburn Rovers: Kieran McKenna's verdict

In a wide open game, the Blues led 1-0 and 3-1, were pegged back to 3-3 before winning it through Massimo Luongo’s expert chest and volley. 

“It was obviously a thrilling game,” said McKenna, whose side are second in the Championship table after winning seven of their opening eight matches. 

“I don’t think many of us will have seen or been involved in too many more open games. I've got one or two comparisons in my coaching career, but not many. 

Kieran McKenna exhales at full-time as his coaching staff celebrate another win (Image: Steve Waller)

“We scored four but we could have had many more. They scored three but maybe could had another one or two as well. 

“There were lots of good things in the performance and, of course, things to learn from and improve. But the quality of the play, the spirit and the effort was there for all to see and I think deserved the three points.

“It was two attacking teams who gave each other problems. We had 29 shots to their 10, so I think we gave them more problems.” 

MORE: Alex Jones' player ratings following 4-3 win against Blackburn

Asked why he thought the game was so open, the Blues boss said: “Our identity is to be really attacking and really brave. And, as I said yesterday, Blackburn are a super aggressive team who put so many bodies in the middle of the pitch. It’s really hard to stop them playing through you and when you stop them playing through you they play wide and run into your half spaces with so many bodies.  

“They’d created the most amount of chances in the league before this game. They’re going to create chances against every team with their identity. They have good players and really good attacking principles. It was always going to be difficult to stop them creating some chances. 

“On the other hand, when you win the ball back there are so many spaces to exploit. When they step on man-to-man they leave big spaces.  

“You can credit or blame the openness of the game on the opposition. I’d like to say credit, because I like their aggression and attacking intent. They’re a team at 3-1 down who are going to keep coming for you.  

Massimo Luongo celebrates his winner (Image: Steve Waller)
“We can say that we need to defend better, and we do in some moments, but on the other hand we have to go 4-1 and 5-1 with the chances that we had. The only way to kill that game off is to open up a four or five-goal margin. We didn’t quite manage to open up those gaps today. 

“Even at 4-3 we had chances at the end to go 5-3 and 6-3. That’s something that we need to improve. Of course it’s not easy. We’re having so many tight games at the moment and we’re seeing them out well. I thought we saw it out well in the last 10 minutes, but we can still improve at being more clinical and making the game a little bit more comfortable."

Ipswich started this perfect week with gritty 1-0 wins at Sheffield Wednesday and Southampton. But the last three games at Portman Road have been goalfests, a 4-3 loss to Leeds and 3-2 win against Cardiff preceding today. 

Asked what type of game he preferred, McKenna said: “It’s nice to have both. Look, we said we were going to attack the season so if you’re going to have that as your mindset you’re not going to have eight 1-0s in a row.  

“The positive is that we’ve shown we can do both. We can score goals and create chances, we’ve done that in every game, and we’ve shown that we can keep clean sheets and defend with discipline and organisation. 

“Of course you want to have the best of both in every game, but we’re not going to win 4-0 every game. I think we’re going to have to find different ways to win games. We’re going to have to show different strings to our bow because the challenges are much more difficult and much more varied than last season. We’ve got to keep showing the capacity to adapt and find different ways to perform and win.” 

On his side’s ability to respond to set-backs in games, he added: “We’ve got a real belief down there in how we play and how we work and our fitness levels. We talk about just doing the right things regardless of the scoreline. We’re showing a good capacity after set-backs to get back on the ball, try and create chances and be aggressive defensively.  

“Credit to the players for sticking with that and credit to the crowd for sticking with them. There’s going to be many more ups and downs along the way there’s no doubt about it.  

“I knew today was going to be a really difficult game. We’ve just got to keep believing in what we’re doing.” 

Leif Davis started this game one week on from suffering a nasty looking ankle injury at Hillsborough. The left-back rocked that same ankle late on and hobbled his way through the final moments of the game due to the fact Ipswich had used all five subs.

"I don't think he's too bad," said McKenna, whose side host Premier League club Wolves in the Carabao Cup third round on Tuesday night before heading to Huddersfield next weekend.

"He's got some bruising on the ankle. I've not spoken to him yet, but hopefully it's not too bad. Of course we've not got a league game now for a week, so we'll look at the balance and make good decisions for Tuesday night to benefit the squad."