Fuller Flavour: I believe that good times will come under McKenna

In the cold light of day, the history books will show a 0-0 score from Saturday’s game at MK Dons.

Unlike many previous no-score draws though, this has much more feeling to it. True, we failed to beat a fellow promotion contender when a win there would really have sent out a statement of intent.

But we did not lose and we put in a performance of real encouragement. For the second game in a row, the opposing manager had good things to say about us too. The football world is going mad.

Ipswich Manager Kieran McKenna acknowledges the massive support his team had at MK Dons. (Image: PAGEPIX LTD 07976935738)

I was a bit apprehensive as to how we would fare at Doncaster, mostly because of their eye-catching result against Sunderland a few days before. I guess you could say in the end, it was the most comfortable 1-0 win you’ll ever see. Town controlled the game with consummate ease and once again under Kieran McKenna, when we take the lead, we do not give up that winning position.

Rovers’ boss Gary McSheffrey was not shy in coming forward to state how impressed he was with us. And MK Dons boss Liam Manning has been equally complimentary claiming that Saturday’s point was ‘massive for his side.

Much has been said of the 7,000 Town fans present at Stadium MK and it was a fantastic sight to see. But you would not get that kind of support if there wasn’t the belief amongst them all. Whatever happens this season, I believe that good times will come under McKenna.

I bang the same drum every week now. I compare my excitement for McKenna to that of watching a special talent coming through our youth system.

I go back to the days of watching Kieron Dyer breaking into the first-team and you knew after a dozen games that there was something very special about him. There has been plenty of other young talent to break through and give us some good moments. But Dyer is the outstanding memory for me.

Whilst McKenna obviously is not ‘home grown’, he is the next best thing you could find in an upcoming, young manager whose potential really could be sky high. I’m not alone in enjoying his post-match interviews.

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I regularly read the thoughts of many other Town fans who comment on the way he presents himself. And he really has plan B and C in the locker when plan A is not working. He could go a long way in the game and if it is not to be with us, we must enjoy him for as long as we have him.

We are getting used to clean sheets. Six in nine games now. Furthermore, we present very few opportunities for the opposition to score. In Christian Walton, Janoi Donacien, George Edmundson and Luke Woolfenden, we are seeing a settled last line of defence and with it, consistency. We are just two or three players away now from being a very good team. That will come though.

My old mate Don Welsh used to have a great saying when one result took us into our next games. Don would say ‘we’ve got the cheque, now let’s cash it in’. The mere fact that the word ‘cheque’ is used shows how long ago that phrase was coined.

Saturday’s draw was a ‘cheque’ presented and it will be a very nice one if we can now back that result up with two wins again at Portman Road with Burton and Cheltenham to come in the next week or so.

Sam Morsy back in action at MK Dons. (Image: PAGEPIX LTD 07976935738)

Thank you to those who contacted me last week when I asked if you’d named a child after a Town player. Among the replies I received included those from Stephen Myers who did not name a child accordingly but did name a budgerigar ‘Mick Mills’ and Gary Feller wanted to name his first house in 1984 ‘Beattie’ – but was not allowed!

Trevor Brown named his son Kevin when he was born in October 1979 after Kevin Beattie. And David Ellis named his three sons Alan (after Brazil), Paul (after Mariner) and Russell (after Osman). Fantastic stuff.