Ipswich Town won 1-0 at Burton Albion last night. STUART WATSON reflects on the action.
'AGGRESSIVE CHAOS'
Two games in four days that couldn't have been more different.
Saturday. Glorious sunshine. A home crowd of 23,043. A toe-to-toe football match with MK Dons. Fast start, intense press, clinical finishing - 3-0. Controlled and comfortable.
Tuesday night. Heavy rain. A crowd of 3,562 tucked in tight around the small Pirelli Stadium playing surface. Burton played the percentage, not possession game. They made the action frenetic and frantic. Kieran McKenna described it afterwards as 'aggressive chaos'.
From the very first minute it was clear this was going to be an awkward, scrappy game. A long ball forwards, a long throw into the box from Tom Hamer (in front of the watching Rory Delap, no less) and mobile target man Gassan Ahadme turned the ball against the bar. Somehow, Conor Shaughnessy wasn't able to turn the ball in on the line and was subsequently forced off injured.
The tone was set. Ipswich players were repeatedly made to face their own goal due to first time hooks into the corners. Burton snapped at heels whenever the ball fell loose. Our home patch, our sort of game. The Blues just couldn't get their passing game going.
Ahadme and Davis Keillor-Dunn both spurned big chances. Late tackles by Janoi Donacien, Marcus Harness and George Edmundson summed up Town's frustrations. Kieran McKenna and Martyn Pert watched on pensively.
Burton started the second half better. Ipswich then, finally, began to settle.
There was still an element of pandemonium though. Both teams were unable to convert gilt-edge chances following criminally slack back passes. It was hard to know which way this game was going to go as the final third approached...
THREE IN THREE
Marcus Harness found himself in acres of space when Greg Leigh supplied a square pass.
One touch to control, another touch to turn, another to open the angle, then a rifled low shot into the bottom left corner from 20 yards out.
Deadlock broken. A guttural roar followed by an expert knee slide from the forward, who didn't dial down the celebrations against his former employers. The away end erupted. Those emotions were born out of relief as much as they were delight.
That's three goals in three successive league games for the summer signing from Portsmouth.
His instinctive arrowed strike into the top corner at Forest Green came inside the box and from the left boot. His bundled finish against MK Dons came thanks to being alert to a rebound opportunity. This one was off the right foot and came from outside the box with more time to think.
"He’s shown already that he’s capable of scoring different types of goals and producing big moments for the team," said McKenna afterwards.
Harness contributed 12 goals and six assists for Pompey last season and arrived at Portman Road insisting he could 'smash those numbers out the park' in a system that suited him. He's well on his way.
Meanwhile, Freddie Ladapo's wait for his first Town goal goes on. His work rate for the team was, once again, high. But he also dragged a decent chance wide in the first half and then messed up a big one-one-one opportunity in the second half due to a heavy first touch. Thankfully, it didn't prove costly.
BIG SAVES
Town stayed in this game thanks to their goalkeeper.
Once again, Christian Walton made some big saves at big moments.
He stayed big to deny Ahadme one-one-one in the first half following Harness' poor back pass. He denied the same player with his legs, in the 56th minute, after Luke Woolfenden's equally slack pass provided a golden opening for the Brewers.
It wasn't just those key stops which were impressive though. Walton confidently plucked crosses out of the air and calmly played passes out with his feet to relieve pressure.
A top class keeper is worth their weight in gold. And in Christian Walton, Ipswich Town have undoubtedly got the best in the division.
SPONSORED BY DOGGY DAYCARE
Town's magnificent travelling fans delivered once again.
There were 1,580 of them in attendance in Staffordshire and they were supporters in the true sense of the word.
A particular highlight of mine was the collective amusement every time it was announced over the public address system, with gusto, that substitutions were 'sponsored by Burton Doggy Daycare'. Town fans quickly tuned that into a chant.
“The away support is always fantastic, but tonight, both in number and in voice, it was a step up and I don’t think we would have won the game without it," enthused McKenna.
“They were a massive help in us keeping the ball out of the net at that end in the first half and then I always felt at half-time, going towards our supporters, that they would give us the encouragement we needed to go and win the game.”
NEW ROLE FOR JACKSON
McKenna made three changes to his team following the energy-sapping home win against MK Dons.
Two of those alterations - Greg Leigh and Sone Aluko replacing Leif Davis and Conor Chaplin respectively - were made through choice.
One was enforced. Wes Burns had to drop out the squad with what the Blues boss described as 'a niggle' that had been felt in the warm-up prior to that 3-0 victory.
Interestingly, Kayden Jackson was selected to replace him in that bespoke high-positioned right wing-back role ahead of both Kyle Edwards and Kane Vincent-Young.
"I thought he did really well," said McKenna. "It was very difficult in the first half, we didn’t manage to get any structure or order to the game, but within that he showed his attributes and he showed why we trust him and showed what he can bring to the game.
“And I thought in the second half he was a massive threat, showed his versatility in a role we’ve been working with him on in the training sometimes and I thought it was a good performance."
He added: "We’ve managed to use a few different players tonight and that will help us going into Saturday (at Shrewsbury). We’re going to have to do that throughout the season.”
SIGNS OF PROGRESS
Last season, Ipswich would have probably gone on to draw at Forest Green after being pegged back to 2-1.
Last season, Ipswich might not have been clinical enough to kill off MK Dons.
Last season, Ipswich would probably have buckled under Burton's 'aggressive chaos'.
Certainly, at least one of those scenarios would have played out.
This is the fist time that the Blues have won three successive League One games since March 2021.
“We were aware that in my short time here that we hadn’t managed to do it yet, but I didn’t know how long had been for the club," said McKenna, whose team now sit a point clear of the rest at the top of the early League One table.
“It was something we spoke about in the off-season and something we spoke about in the build-up to this game. To get consecutive wins we knew we'd have to show a higher level of humility and a higher level of commitment and concentration than we managed to show last year.
“The games in this league are very difficult, certainly for Ipswich Town there aren’t going to be any easy games, and if you come off it at all you’re not going to get consecutive wins, you’re going to drop points.
"It’s onto the next game now (at Shrewsbury on Saturday). We have to go and do everything we can to go and win again."
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