Ipswich Town v Rotherham United: Kieran McKenna on match

The Blues host rock-bottom Rotherham (7.45pm kick-off) having picked up quickfire back-to-back wins at Millwall and Swansea that have kept them firmly in the race for the top two.

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A victory tonight would move them level on points with second-placed Leeds United and could see them leapfrog Southampton, who host Hull City this evening, into third.

McKenna's men are right in the mix for a top two spot with 14 games left (Image: Pagepix Ltd)
Of coming home, McKenna said: “It’s nice. We love playing at Portman Road and we love the midweek games as well under the floodlights.

“It doesn’t make it easier because we know that Rotherham are going to do everything in their power to make the game really difficult for us and we’re going to have to be at our very best to break them down and to counteract their threats.

“But it’s nice to not have the travel and it’s nice to have the home support behind us and it’s nice to have two back-to-back games where we know we’re going to have the crowd, be playing on our pitch and we’ll really go and attack those games and do as well as we possibly can.”

READ MORE: McKenna on his Premier League ambitions

The reverse fixture at the Millers back in November saw the home side grab a dramatic late point in a 2-2 draw, but they haven't won an away game in more than a year and are 14 points adrift of safety.

They'll come to Portman Road under a new manager too, with Matt Taylor getting sacked shortly after that draw. He was replaced by ex-Wigan boss Leam Richardson.

Leam Richardson's Rotherham are 14 points from safety (Image: PA)
"Leam’s a very good manager," McKenna insisted. "He knows a lot of our players and he knows our team and our group of course from the Wigan times as well.

“They’ll be fully aware of what our strengths are and we’re fully aware of what their strengths are and we know they’re going to try to make it a really difficult game.

“It will be a difficult game and we’re going have to do really well to come out on top.”

While on paper tonight's game appears to be a nailed-on home win, McKenna - as you'd expect - is preparing for another tough test.

“I see them competing every week," he said of Rotherham. "There’s been very few games where they’ve not been in the game.

“Maybe the Leeds game (3-0 defeat) – but they can do that, they did it to us at Elland Road.

Nathan Broadhead has scored in three straight games (Image: PA)
“But every other game they’ve been competitive and they’re in the game until the last minutes very often.

“They’ve taken points off some of the bigger teams as well and some of the better teams in the league.

“We know it’s going to be a tough game, every game in the Championship is, and we know they’re fighting for points with the same level of motivation we are.

“We can only focus on ourselves and make sure our motivation is at the highest level, which I know it will be.

“Beyond that, we try and play as well as we possibly can.”