McKenna lauds Black Cats in ‘big’ Ipswich win

IPSWICH Town boss Kieran McKenna says his side’s 2-1 victory against Sunderland felt like a “big win” as his promotion-chasers ended their five-game winless league run and cut the gap on leaders Leicester City to seven points.

The second-placed Tractor Boys had seen their momentum slow in recent weeks as they drew four and lost one of their previous five league games, but they got back on course against the Black Cats at Portman Road on Saturday despite the absence of a number of key players through injury and suspension.

“There’s going to be a spell where you don’t win games,” said McKenna, who led Ipswich out of League One last season. “That’s normal for any team, certainly a newly-promoted team.

“But it does feel like a big win because we’ve gone from having a really settled XI for over 12 months to making a lot of changes. In the QPR game here we had maybe seven players stepping in who hadn’t played very much and some of them playing out of position.

“Again last night, we’ve got a left centre-back, two pivots and a striker – that’s basically your spine, your central connections on the ball – all gone. So it feels like a big win because we’re missing players who’ve played regularly.

“We’ve got other people stepping into roles who are trying to develop. We weren’t at our absolute most fluent on the ball, we’re playing against a really good side and we go behind in the game.

“So when you come out of nights like that, showing the spirit that we did, on the right side of a hard fought game it feels like a big victory for sure.”

Jack Clarke put Sunderland ahead in the first half but Kayden Jackson levelled soon after, and then Conor Chaplin scored what turned out to be the winner 15 minutes from time when he headed home a free-kick.

McKenna said: “I thought it was a really good game, a tough game, against a good side with lots of talented players of a really high technical level.

“A really hard-fought, strong and committed performance was needed to get the win and that’s what we gave.”