Stuart Watson’s verdict Ipswich Town 4–3 Rotherham United

Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna believes his squad can learn from tonight’s ‘wild’ 4-3 home win against Rotherham United at Portman Road.

The Blues rallied from a second-minute deficit to lead 3-1 at halftime with to goals from Wes Burns (2) and Kieffer Moore, but Vaclav Hladky’s failed punch allowed Hakeem Odoffin to equalize on the hour mark, setting up a nail-biting finish.

The rock-bottom visitors appeared to have grabbed a point in the fourth minute of stoppage time when Kayden Jackson was deemed to have fouled Peter Kioso in the box and Cafu converted the penalty. Deflation quickly turned to exhilaration, however, as Jackson set up Omari Hutchinson for a stunning winner barely a minute later.

“It was a bit of a wild game, wasn’t it?” McKenna’s side has leapfrogged Southampton to third position in the Championship table, level on points with second-place Leeds.

“Of course, it wasn’t a terrific start; we conceded a pretty terrible goal due to individual errors, and I believe we never really regained our defensive composure after that. We were never able to gain the desired level of control over the game.

McKenna stated that Harry Clarke had an impact injury to his leg in the second half. “I’m not sure how bad that is yet.”

“Having said that, we scored four goals at home, could have had more, and still managed to win.

“Every game in the Championship is challenging. I knew this was going to be a tough game, and the players found a way to win again. They deserve credit for that.”

Regarding Rotherham’s late penalty equalizer, the Blues manager stated: “I thought it was soft at the time, but I haven’t seen it again to be fair, and the referee has a better view than me.”

“To be honest, I had a feeling that was coming in terms of game flow. We were unable to maintain control of the ball; we were pinned into our box, and anything might happen at this point.

“Having said that, I did not believe we had many chances against us. The goals were the result of an individual blunder and a penalty, both of which were not particularly dangerous. But we didn’t have the game we wanted, and when you’re defending your box like we were for the last 10 or 20 minutes, there’s always the possibility of something going wrong.

“When they received the penalty, I assumed it was going to be one of those nights, but credit to the players. It would have been easy to lie on the floor at 3-3 and give up on the game, or even come under siege, given their momentum from coming back from 3-1.

But we found the resolve to reclaim the ball, launch another attack, and provide a moment of true, genuine greatness to win the game.

When asked if exhaustion played a role in the performance, given that this was the fourth game in 11 days, the Blues manager replied, “No doubt about it. Wednesday-Saturday-Tuesday is difficult. There were two challenging away games, the second of which was played on an extremely muddy ground.

“There was definitely a weariness element to the second half, especially with the game flowing as it does. We didn’t play particularly well, but I can’t fault the effort, and we found a way in difficult circumstances.”

McKenna went on to say, “Who knows how relevant that will be to the final point total? To be honest, I believe there are lessons for everyone to learn tonight.

“There are 13 games remaining, and one of the key messages heading in tonight was that we needed to keep tension out of the stadium and the performance. We knew people were coming expecting us to win, which created a different vibe.

“We knew it would be a tough game. Rotherham grabbed points away from Leeds and Southampton. They were in a far better position than us not long ago, and their team has plenty of Championship experience and skill.

“We should have done certain things better tonight, but that’s football. We have a lot of players in their first season of Championship football, and they are undoubtedly competing at the top of the Championship, so there will be mistakes.

“As I’ve said all along, we just have to keep embracing the difficulties, the experience, the season that we’re having, and doing as best we can. We didn’t able to do that tonight, but happily, we found the spirit to produce the outcome.”

McKenna stated that Harry Clarke had an impact injury to his leg in the second half. “I’m not sure how bad that is yet.”

Moore required treatment in the second half, as stated by the Blues manager: “He took a couple of big hits, one on his knee. He played the entire game, and while I’m not sure he was 100%, he gave it his all. We will observe how he recovers over the next few days.”