Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna says he wants to see his team scoring more goals from all over the pitch.

The Blues have kept a mightily impressive 12 clean sheets in 17 games under the Northern Irishman, but on only six occasions have they scored two or more goals (Gillingham 0-4, Accrington 2-1, Burton 3-0, Fleetwood 0-2 and Lincoln 2-0).

And just six of the 21 goals scored since he took charge have been bagged by a striker (Kayden Jackson 3, James Norwood 2 and Macauley Bonne 1).

“I think it’s a little bit of everything - I don’t think you can put it down to one thing," said McKenna, when asked what had prevented his team turning some dominant displays into more comfortable wins.

“In the Oxford game we were rampant at 1-0, carving through them and creating counter chances on the break.

East Anglian Daily Times: Macauley Bonne bagged 11 goals in his first 16 appearances for Ipswich Town. He has now scored one goal in his last 24 appearances.Macauley Bonne bagged 11 goals in his first 16 appearances for Ipswich Town. He has now scored one goal in his last 24 appearances. (Image: © Copyright Stephen Waller)

“Last week, against Plymouth, it was a little bit more controlled, we keep the ball a little bit more in the second half, we didn't create loads and loads of opportunities because we didn't feel the need to. We felt like it was a game we could control in possession a little bit more and keep our shape.

“So each game is different and it’s hard to pin it on one thing.

“We would have liked to have scored more goals. That’s not just the strikers, we want goals from all over the pitch.

“We’ve had a couple of winning goals from Sam Morsy who is probably our fifth deepest player in terms of his general start position.

“That probably typifies what we want to see. We want goals from midfield, we want goals from the wing-backs, we want goals from the players between the lines and we want goals from the central striker. And we want goals from set-plays from our centre-halves.

“I don’t think it’s fair or right to say it’s just one position. It’s for us to keep improving as a team, keep improving the goal output from every position and every phase of the game.

“In certain games we’ve faced a low block, a packed defence and are struggling to break the door down. That’s when we need to be able to score from a set-play.

“In other games we’re 1-0 up and the other team is leaving a lot of space and we need to kill the game off on the counter.

“We’ll keep developing all the players in their goalscoring and goal creating threat. Centre forward is just one part of that."


TOWN'S TOPSCORERS UNDER MCKENNA

7: Burns

3: Jackson and Chaplin

2: Norwood, Morsy, Celina

1: Bonne, Bakinson