Ipswich Town are level on points with Leicester at the top of the Championship table following Saturday's 3-2 home win against Swansea. Blues fan Karl Fuller gives his thoughts.
Without wishing to state the obvious, I am so pleased that we won on Saturday. If for no other reason than it might calm a few down.
The discontent following Rotherham’s late equaliser in some quarters was extraordinary. It was utter madness to start worrying that after two league games without a win, matters were of as concern.
Leave the negativity for others to ponder. There are plenty of doubters outside of our club that cannot wait for our bubble to burst.
Two points of fact. We are not going to win every game. And remember, with humility, where we have come from to be where we are at present.
If you are worrying about two points dropped because of Christ Tiehi’s 91st minute goal last Tuesday, then please look at the bigger picture. We are nine points ahead from those gained from losing positions to those dropped from a winning position.
Granted, it is not ideal to keep going behind to early goals – that's five games in a row now – but you can bet your life that Kieran McKenna and his staff will be working so hard to rectify that malfunctioning part of our game.
I think over the two games against Birmingham and Rotherham, two draws were fair enough. We also remained unbeaten of course. And every single one of us would have taken the position we are now in at the latest international break if offered at the start of August.
In this mini period between international breaks, five league games produced three wins and two draws with a further eleven goals scored. Level with Leicester at the top of the league, and eight points ahead of Leeds in third. This is still the stuff of dreams, right?
Barring the first 10 minutes on Saturday, and a sloppy late goal conceded, we were pretty much back to our excellent self throughout.
Swansea boss Michael Duff can be added to the list of opposition managers whose blinkered bias failed to give us due credit. I think he was probably speaking out of desperation when he referred to how we had scored our goals. He made Jack Taylor’s goal sound like it was some kind of fluke. Some of our passages of play were scintillating to watch. On another day, we could have scored six or seven – at least.
Could there be any real argument against Liam Cullen’s sending-off? And we finally saw a penalty come our way. Hallelujah, they do exist. Once again, there was some very questionable officiating. In the main, that is an area that getting out of League One has seen little improvement in.
We sit second in the form table too over the last six matches. We are seven goals clear at the top of the highest goalscorers table.
I still hear that it’s early days for us. That was the case after two games for sure, but they became four games, which became eight, and now 16. At what point do we stop saying it is 'still early'?
How about the line that we have yet to play anyone decent? Yep, that’s another one I see on social media. Almost 60% of our wins to date have come against teams currently in the top half of the table. Three of the four current top six sides have been played and beaten too.
It is now 85 league games in charge of Ipswich for McKenna - he's overseen 51 wins, 178 points and a goal difference of plus 99. These are mind-blowing statistics that just keep coming.
Our squad is in a good place, with Wes Burns and Nathan Broadhead back on Saturday. I love Massimo Luongo, but Jack Taylor has now added a serious challenge to his starting place.
I will concede that there is still a long way to go with some difficult looking games on the horizon. But let’s not fear them. There is no point worrying about what might happen. Just keep positive, enjoy this current ride that 2023 has bestowed upon us, and who knows where it my lead us to.
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