Ipswich Town: Kieran McKenna reflects on Watford stalemate

The Blues came into the match off the back of an East Anglian derby defeat against Norwich City, but they knew that they could move top of the Championship by taking three points against the Hornets.

They registered 10 shots in the first half, limiting Tom Cleverley’s side to little in terms of concrete opportunities, but they struggled to sustain it after the break as the momentum swung the other way. Although they showed signs that they could seal the win late on, it ultimately wasn’t to be.

“The first half was a really good performance against a dangerous Watford side,” McKenna said after the game. “We controlled them to next to nothing in terms of their chances, and we had a couple of really big moments.

“It was difficult to create chances. They defended really deep, really compact, and they got three big, powerful centre-halves in the penalty box. It was difficult in that context to create a huge amount of big chances.

“In the first half, we created a couple of what would’ve been really, really good goals for us. It just wasn’t our night in terms of them going in the back of the net.

The Town boss made four changes from the side that lost to Norwich City (Image: Stephen Waller)

“We would’ve been more than deserving to go in at half time with a lead, but we didn’t manage to get it. Then in the second half, we didn’t manage to create as much as we wanted or build as much pressure as we would’ve wanted.

“We have to respect the opponent, they’re always going to have a spell in the game. They had a spell of possession, but having said that, we still gave away very few chances and defended well.

“We managed to build some pressure in the last 10, 15 minutes, but again, credit to their organisation and motivation to defend their own box so deep and with so many bodies. It made it really difficult for us to create.

“We take the positives from the performance, we take the big positive with the clean sheet, and we take the point, which are all hard-fought in the Championship – especially at this time in the season.”

McKenna knew he had to make changes. Tiredness was clearly an issue at Carrow Road on Saturday, and he responded by making four changes against Watford, giving starts to Harry Clarke, George Edmundson, Jack Taylor and Kayden Jackson.

It gave Town extra energy from the start and strong options off the bench, although Edmundson’s ankle injury limited them to four attacking substitutions. The Hornets’ resolute defence was always going to make it tough, however, and the hosts were unable to find the late goal that’s gained them so many points over the last few weeks and months.

George Edmundson rolled his ankle during the stalemate (Image: Ross Halls)

“We knew that, at the end of this spell, it’d be five games in 15 days,” McKenna explained. “They’re really difficult games, all of them went right to the last seconds. Today, again, has gone right to the last second.

“It’s important to be able to freshen up the team and show trust in everyone. I thought the boys who came into the team did a good job, so we’ll have another fresh look at it for Saturday.”

“I thought Kayden [Jackson], Omari [Hutchinson] and Harry Clarke’s link-up play on the right-hand side was excellent in the first half. Jack [Taylor] gave us some good things on the ball as well.

“George came into the team, and like he has done every time he’s come in this season, he was really solid and performed really well.

“It’s a shame that he went off with an injury at the end, it probably robbed us of maybe one more attacking substitution which we would’ve liked to have been able to make as well, which is a big part of us chasing the game down late. We weren’t able to do that, we had to use it on a centre-half.

“We’ve got a great record of scoring late goals, but at the same time, we’re in a busy run of game, the opposition found a motivation to defend their goal with a lot of bodies. There were nine, 10, 11 players in front of the goal at times, so it’s hard to create big chances. Sometimes you’re relying on putting pressure on and the ball falling your way, and it just didn’t seem to fall our way tonight.

The Blues sit second in the league with four games remaining (Image: Stephen Waller)

“It has done on plenty of other occasions, so I don’t think we can complain too much. We’ll just take the positives.”

It means that little has changed in the promotion race. Ipswich are now level on points with Leicester City, but they remain one point ahead of Leeds United.

McKenna, as always, is only thinking about his own side, but was pleased that the players showed no signs of nerves despite knowing the situation going into the game.

“We’re just focusing on ourselves,” he stated. “I think you could see in the performance in the first half, there was no tension, no worries and no difference about the stage of the season.

“I thought it was a really good performance, and it didn’t look like it was the 42nd game or the 14th game or whatever. We were just playing as us, and that’s what we want to do.

“We managed to do that for a good chunk of this game, so I think it shows the mindset of the players and where we’re at. We’re just trying to perform as well as we can.

“We know we won’t do it in every game, but we’ll look to do the same on Saturday. We’ll look to perform as well as we can and focus on ourselves.

“Of course, we want to pick up as many points as we can. There’s not too many league games left, so we’ll see where we’re at.”