Ipswich Town

Kieran McKenna was delighted with his Ipswich players for keeping cool as they scored a late winner against West Brom to end their two-match losing run.

McKenna told his players to stay calm when the goal would not come and they got their rewards when Jack Clarke came off the bench to bag the decisive strike in the 1-0 win seven minutes from time at Portman Road.

The Ipswich boss told BBC Radio Suffolk: "For the players, it was important to get the result and it was a good way for us to win as a group. If I was to pick a way to win the game for the development of the group, it would be something like this.

"It was a game that was difficult. We played well in the first half, but we didn't get our reward. Then a lot of things we talked about during the week when things aren't going our way, we have to stay calm, stay together, do our jobs, stay focused and have trust.

"If we don't win the game early, we can win it late.

"It was a good way to win the game – clean sheet with a good impact from the bench and strong resilience."

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Ipswich Town have recalled academy goalkeeper Henry Gray following Alex Palmer's injury picked up during Tuesday's defeat by Charlton Athletic.

Palmer limped off in the 24th minute and was replaced by back-up keeper Christian Walton.

With 36-year-old David Button the only other recognised keeper at the club, Gray has now returned to Portman Road after only signing on loan for National League side Braintree Town on Tuesday.

He did not make a league appearance for Braintree.

Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna says he has become good at dealing with bad days at the office.

The Suffolk side followed defeat by Middlesbrough last Friday with a 3-0 home loss to Charlton on Tuesday in which they conceded all three goals in 12 second-half minutes.

"This isn't my first rodeo at this club or previous clubs," McKenna told BBC Radio Suffolk.

"I've been a coach for a long time and a manager for a good amount of games as well and it's one area I'm pretty good at in staying balanced, staying on an even keel with how you keep the atmosphere here, how you treat people and managing to separate it from other parts of your life as best as possible.

"You can only control with what comes next and that's your response."

Ipswich have dropped to 14th place in the Championship table as they prepare to host West Bromwich Albion on Saturday (12:30 BST) and McKenna hopes they have dealt with recent disappointments and can now move on.

"The mood is where you'd expect it to be and where you'd want it to be," he added.

"If everyone was skipping around the building really, really happy we'd be concerned.

"It's about how you address it, we've had a couple of meetings about it, addressed it and will try to come out stronger for having gone through that as a group."

Ipswich Town head into this game looking to avoid three defeats in a row in the Championship for the first time since April 2019 when they were relegated to League One.

West Bromwich Albion have lost three of their past four away league games, with their only success a 1-0 victory at Norwich City at the start of October.

• Ipswich Town have only won one of their past 13 league games against West Bromwich Albion (D4 L8) – a 2-0 victory on New Year's Day 2008.

• West Bromwich Albion have only lost one of their past six league trips to Ipswich Town (W3 D2), though have conceded on each of their past 21 league visits to Portman Road.

• Having lost each of their past two league games, Ipswich are looking to avoid losing three in a row outside the top flight for the first time since March 2020 in League One (run of four).

• Since a 2-1 defeat to Leicester City in April 2024, West Brom are unbeaten in their past seven league games against sides recently relegated from the Premier League (W1 D6).

• Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna failed to beat West Brom in either league meeting in 2023-24 (D1 L1), conceding two goals in both matches.

Kieran McKenna called his team's reaction to going behind against Charlton Athletic "unacceptable" as they conceded three goals inside 12 minutes.

The Ipswich manager told BBC Radio Suffolk after the 3-0 defeat: "There are two sides to the game.

"We need to score the goals when we have the opportunity to do so, and we've had loads of opportunities, then we've given up a poor goal and our reaction was nowhere near good enough after that.

"We didn't do the fundamentals anywhere near well enough, didn't find the right response in a difficult moment and conceded really, really poor goals in quick succession.

"That bit is unacceptable and we have to address it. It was the same in the Middlesbrough game - when things went against us we went far south really quick.

"We have to dig deeper individually and find more unity and togetherness to defend well when things go against us."

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Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna expects previous high-scoring encounters with Charlton Athletic to have "zero" relevance to Tuesday's game at Portman Road.

Town beat The Addicks 4-0 under McKenna in April 2022 and the following season won 6-0 following a 4-4 draw at The Valley on their way to promotion from League One.

"They seem a lifetime ago. I've not thought about them in the context of this game 1% - it was a different era," McKenna said.

"We've had a couple of good days against them, a draw that felt like a really bad day but this is brand new - new team, different division and we start from scratch."

Nathan Jones's Charlton are three places higher than Ipswich in the table, but the Tractor Boys will leapfrog them if they can repeat their win in a pre-season friendly.

"They've had a very good start to the season, they're doing really well. Nathan's teams always show good intensity, good energy, you know they're going to run hard.

"They're doing well on their set-plays, can mix their game up, can go long and play some football as well, man-to-man defending which is always a different challenge if you don't face it very often - we're expecting a tricky opponent, we know we're going to have to play well.

"Nathan Jones isn't someone I know personally very well but he's got a really strong record with a lot of different clubs," McKenna added.

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Ipswich midfielder Azor Matusiwa will miss their Championship match at home to Charlton on Tuesday (19:45 BST) because of suspension.

The 27-year-old picked up his fifth yellow card of the season in Friday's 2-1 loss at Middlesbrough.

"It's a loss, especially in the home games he's been growing into the team and going from strength to strength but it is what it is, in the Championship you're always liable to pick up yellow cards in the middle of the pitch," Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna told BBC Radio Suffolk.

Matusiwa, who joined from Rennes in July, has started all nine of their league games this season which means there will be a different look to their midfield.

"It's come a little bit quicker than we wanted but no-one is going to play every minute of every game which is why we have a squad and it'll be a different midfield on Tuesday where boys will want to take their chances and most importantly help the team do well," added McKenna.

Only Middlesbrough (13) have taken more than Ipswich's 11 home points so far this season with the Suffolk side one of five Championship teams yet to lose on their own turf.

Charlton will arrive in Suffolk with three wins from their past five games, including a last-minute victory at Sheffield United.

• Ipswich have scored 14 goals in their past three league games against Charlton (W2 D1), scoring 4+ goals in each; it's one of only two occasions in their history that they have scored four or more in three successive league meetings with a side (also v Brighton from Dec 1959 to Sep 1960).

• Charlton have lost both of their past two league visits to Ipswich by an aggregate score of 10-0, only ever losing more in a row away to the Tractor Boys from 1996 to 2000 (4).

• Ipswich have won each of their past three home league games, more than their previous 24 beforehand combined (W2 D8 L14).

• After their 2-0 defeat by Preston, Charlton could lose successive away league matches for the first time since November 2024.

• Charlton have won seven of their past eight midweek (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) league games (D1) since a 2-1 defeat at Crawley in December 2024.

Image source, Getty Images

Ipswich made "too many mistakes" as they were beaten 2-1 by Championship leaders Middlesbrough on Friday night, according to head coach Kieran McKenna.

A Cedric Kipre own goal and Morgan Whittaker's first strike for Boro put the hosts in control before skipper Dara O'Shea gave the Suffolk side hope with a late header.

George Hirst missed a penalty for Ipswich with the score at 0-0.

"We made too many mistakes to win the game or to have too many complaints," McKenna told BBC Radio Suffolk.

"The night could have been different. We could have got the first goal on a couple of occasions, the penalty being the biggest one."

The defeat ends Ipswich's five-match unbeaten run and McKenna feels they failed to manage the game properly

"The bit of the performance I'm most disappointed about is how we managed the most difficult spells of the game - it became too open, too chaotic, we gave up too much," he added.

"To come away to a difficult place against a team in form and a crowd behind them, you can't make as many mistakes as we did. You need to be stronger and show more resilience to keep the ball out of your net."

Ipswich are next in action at home to Charlton on Tuesday, 21 October.

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The international break is finally over and the Championship weekend begins in style on Friday night as Middlesbrough welcome Ipswich to the Riverside (20:00 BST).

Rob Edwards' side will seek to get back on track after losing their unbeaten record and top-spot in the table last time out with a 1-0 defeat at Portsmouth on 4 October.

The Tractor Boys were 3-1 winners over Norwich in the East Anglian Derby the following day to jump up to ninth, but within striking distance of the top-three.

• Middlesbrough failed to beat Ipswich in the last league season they played together in 2023-24 (D1 L1), after winning five of the previous seven encounters (D2).

• Ipswich could win successive league games at Middlesbrough for the first time, after winning 2-0 on their last league visit in December 2023.

• Middlesbrough, who went down last time out to Portsmouth, could lose successive league games for the first time since April, while they haven't failed to score in three successive league matches since April 2022 (run of four).

• Only Coventry and Queens Park Rangers (both 11) have won more points in the Championship since the start of September than Ipswich (10), while they've scored 13 goals across their past five games since a 1-0 defeat to Preston North End.

• Nine of Ipswich's past 12 Championship goals have been scored by either Jack Clarke (4) or Jaden Philogene (5) – Clarke has found the net in four of his past five games, with three of those coming as a substitute.

Ipswich midfielder Azor Matusiwa says playing in the Championship is "more intense" than other leagues he has experienced and expects there is more to come from The Tractor Boys.

The 27-year-old played in France with Reims and Rennes after starting in his native Netherlands, before making the move to Portman Road in the summer.

"Every game I have played here it has been a full stadium, which was really nice and you can feel the love of the people, and how they support the club," Matusiwa told BBC Radio Suffolk.

"If I have to compare the quality in France you have more individual quality, but the teams are better in England - so it feels like a really good step for me.

"It is more intense compared to France, which is also intense, but you have time to play, it is not box-to-box for 90 minutes."

Following the international break Ipswich visit Middlesbrough on Friday (20:00 BST), where they will be looking to extend their unbeaten run to six games.

Boro have only lost one league game this season, a 1-0 defeat by Portsmouth.

"I think we can play much better than we are doing now," Matusiwa added.

"But as I have said before it takes some time, with new players and the players have to adjust that are coming from abroad and it will take some time.

"They might not be there immediately from the start, but at the end we will be there, which is a normal thing."

Listen to Matusiwa's full interview and more on BBC Sounds.

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Ipswich Town head coach Kieran McKenna expects forward Sam Szmodics to be fit for their next run of Championship matches despite him withdrawing from the recent Republic of Ireland squad.

The 30-year-old missed the World Cup qualifiers against Portugal and Armenia because of injury but McKenna says he will train ahead of Friday's match at Middlesbrough (20:00 BST).

"It's his ankle again," he said. "He needed a course of injections after the Norwich game to ease the symptoms he's been feeling.

"So he needed some time off his feet, some time away from the group training."

Szmodics had ankle surgery in March and also withdrew from the Republic of Ireland squad for friendlies against Senegal and Luxembourg in June, but McKenna is confident the treatment has had the desired effect.

"It seems to have worked pretty well and hopefully the time he's had off to rest will put it in better stead and he'll be ready for the block of games ahead," said the Ipswich boss at his pre-match press conference.

Image source, Rex Features

Ipswich Town midfielder Jack Taylor has signed a new three-year contract with the Championship club.

Taylor has made 80 appearances since arriving from Peterborough United in 2023, although 55 of the 69 games he has played in the league have been from the bench.

The 27-year-old has scored seven goals for the Tractor Boys, including the winner at Wolves in the Premier League last season.

"I have had so many fantastic experiences over my two years at the club so far and have enjoyed every opportunity I've had to play for Ipswich Town, so it was an easy decision to extend my stay," he told the club website., external

"I have improved so much as a footballer during my time working under the manager and coaches here and I look forward to pushing on further over the next few years and helping the team achieve its goals."

Ipswich are ninth in the table following last weekend's East Anglia derby win over Norwich and will be away to Middlesbrough in their next game on 17 October.

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Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna has been named the Championship manager of the month for September.

After a slow start to life back in the second tier at Portman Road, the Tractor Boys began to find momentum in September, claiming seven points from a possible nine to stay unbeaten, including a 5-0 demolition of Sheffield United, a 2-1 win over Portsmouth and a 1-1 draw under the lights at Bristol City.

Chosen ahead of Charlton's Nathan Jones, Preston's Paul Heckingbottom and QPR boss Julien Stephan, he said: "I am happy to accept the award on behalf of all the staff at the club and thank them for the hard work they have put in since the start of pre-season.

"We are pleased with the progress we are making and have had some good results in recent weeks, but we are all aware we need to keep pushing over what is a long and challenging season in the Championship."

Sky Sports' EFL pundit Don Goodman said: "Ipswich didn't make the start that many expected but they certainly turned it around in September.

"Kieran McKenna's side are one of the favourites for promotion this season and he will be hoping September has set them on their way and will prove to be a catalyst for a Premier League return."

BBC Suffolk commentator Brenner Woolley said: "I'm really pleased for him. I think some people have gone a bit overboard in recent weeks when Town have only lost one game this season.

"He's not above criticism, some things have not gone right for him in 2025 but he deserves respect and time to build a new team, which is what he's trying to do.

"We're in mid-October and he's lost one game this season, away, through a penalty, against the team who are fourth in the league. It's not been a disastrous start.

"We are seeing some signs that could be very positive in the long term. There's still work to be done but there are signs this could click at some stage and be special."

Tractor Boys winger Jaden Philogene, who was nominated for player of the month after finding the net four times in the side's three completed matches in September, missed out on the award to Hull City forward Oli McBurnie.

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Hosts Blackburn Rovers will face Ipswich Town once again on Tuesday, 2 December (19:45 GMT), following the controversial decision to replay the match after it was suspended in the 79th minute due to heavy rainfall.

Before the game was called off, Ipswich defender Jacob Greaves was dismissed early into the second half for a tackle on forward Yuki Ohashi as the Japanese drove towards goal, and Todd Cantwell later converted a penalty for Rovers to take a 1-0 lead.

The English Football League confirmed the match would be replayed in full the following Thursday, prompting a strong reaction from Blackburn boss Valerien Ismael.

Greaves was required to serve his suspension; however, Cantwell's goal will not stand for the upcoming replay.