Kieran McKenna knows Ipswich Town’s home form is going to be ‘massive’ as his side bid to haul themselves into the promotion places before the end of the campaign.

The Blues go into this afternoon’s clash with Burton Albion five points back from sixth place, with 14 matches remaining in a season in which the Suffolk side are still paying for their poor start.

Eight of the remaining games are at Portman Road, where McKenna has won three from three so far, with the Town boss wanting that impressive run to continue.

“It’s massive,” he said, discussing the important of home form.

“The home record has been good recently and even before that.

“We have a fantastic home support and support base who get behind the club, and we have to use that to strengthen us and make it a difficult and intimidating place for the opposition to come.

“The home form is going to be really important, starting with a difficult game against Burton which will bring up a whole host of challenges.

“We’ll have to be positive, we’ll have to be aggressive and importantly we’re going to have to be patient. If the game goes our way early on and we don’t score an early goal, then we have to avoid getting frustrated and stick to the plan.

“We need to keep making good decisions, on and off the ball, and trust that if we keep doing the right things and stick together, then we have the quality to outscore the opposition.

“Home form is massive and we hope the crowd is with us as they always are. Then it’s up to the players to deliver and go and get the result.”

This afternoon’s game against Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink’s Brewers is quickly followed by a visit from Cheltenham on Tuesday night but, while McKenna knows wins are required, he’s not getting ahead of himself as he focuses on the job at hand.

“I’m not thinking of them massively as a pair and I’m not thinking too far past Burton,” the Town boss said.

“I’m not really thinking of picking a team for Cheltenham or thinking about what that game will be like. It’s all eyes on Burton.

“We’ve seen how teams come to Portman Road and are fully motivated for massive games for them. We expect them to arrive to make the game as difficult as they possibly can for us, making it difficult for us to play,

“But we take it one game at a time. Burton are coming off a big result (3-1 victory over Bolton) and our complete focus has been on this game.

“We’ll do everything we can to get the three points before we then move on to Cheltenham on Tuesday night.”