Will Keane knows that if Town can succeed where they have previously failed this season, by beating Peterborough at Portman Road tomorrow, it will give their promotion chances a considerable boost.

The third-placed Blues’ record against all their promotion rivals has been average so far, to the extent that they have yet to win against any of the other sides in the top nine. Their record to date is six draws and three defeats in the nine games they have played against their main rivals.

Posh are League One’s top scorers with 52 goals from their 29 games — Town have 40 from 28 — and Keane said: “Any win at this point of the season is massive and it doesn’t matter who the opposition is because we go into every game with the mentality of wanting to win.

“However, our form against the teams who are around us in the table hasn’t been great and we’re looking to put that right as soon as possible. Beating Peterborough would give us a lot of belief to keep pushing on towards promotion.”

Only six points currently separate leaders Rotherham and seventh-placed Portsmouth, and the 27-year-old striker added: “At the minute it obviously is close and it’s all about what we do. We’re looking up, not down, so we need to keep pushing on for the wins.

“Last week we got ourselves back on top by beating Lincoln but it is constantly changing. Whoever can put a good run together might put some distance between themselves and the others.

“We’ve got some really tough games coming up so we just need to take each one as it comes and keep pushing on.”

Town suffered a blow in midweek when a 1-0 defeat at Rotherham saw the Millers replace them at the summit and Keane admitted: “It was a frustrating night and a missed opportunity for us, which was disappointing. We know we definitely have to improve on that display against Peterborough tomorrow.

“But we still have a lot of confidence off the back of the result at home against Lincoln last week and we’re looking to build on that and push for the three points. Our performance at Rotherham was the polar opposite really, wasn’t it? We played some great stuff at the weekend and we never really got going on Tuesday.

“You have to credit Rotherham for that — they are very effective at what they do — but we should have been able to come up with solutions.

“We didn’t quite manage to do that and we have to reflect on that and try to put things right in tomorrow’s game, when we need to be fully focused.
“I think we have to learn to cope with the physical demands.

“With a lot of the teams in this league that’s the way they set up and approach the games. First and foremost, you have to win the physical battle and be prepared to do the ugly side of the game.

“At times we dug in there and we competed, but they were set up to make the most of the set plays and to get the ball into the box from all angles. At times it is difficult to stop that.

“But we know we have to compete then do more on the ball to show that is our main strength as a team.

“There are still a lot of games to go and we’ve been on good form since the turn of the year.

“It was a blip and we need to put that to bed, get back on track and get a good win tomorrow. We know it is going to be a very tough game but we’ll be hoping it can give us the momentum to go on another good run.”

Peterborough will present a different challenge to the one posed by Rotherham and Keane added: “They have a lot of threats. They are an attacking team with a system similar to us so it is probably going to come down to who does it better on the day.

“They have a lot of pace going forward and they will be dangerous on the counter attacks, so we need to be aware of that. But we need to focus on what we’re about as a team and we know that if we perform we can cause them problems.

“They are only a couple of points behind us and they have been on a good run of form themselves. I’m sure their confidence will be high and we’ll have to take that into consideration, but we have to make sure we can take control of the game and try to get the win.”

Photo: TWTD

MichaelRockyLavelle added 12:04 - Jan 31 Let's get Portman road bouncing like our Away support always is, and I think we should be comfortable, we're better than them on our day. The 12th man is needed tomorrow! ITID
3

JewellintheTown added 12:37 - Jan 31 I'm not sure what frustrates me more at the moment with our club, the players spouting yet more blindingly obvious clichés and excuses, or the fact they roll of their tongues so easily as if they're somehow distanced observers and not part of the reason they're saying them. We need action now boys, not words!
2

TimmyH added 12:38 - Jan 31 Funny how a number were writing them off a month back, they win some games running and they're right back in touch again - they just haven't been as consistent so far but on their day. Doesn't take much in this poor quality league.
1

runningout added 15:05 - Jan 31 Slightly concerning headline. How we have fallen. Plus if you require belief by beating Posh someone's in a sorry state
-1

ITFCsince73 added 19:30 - Jan 31 Let's make no mistake Posh are a good side in this division. They will fancy tomorrow no doubt. We are now in the stage of the season, where teams become teams. We have 2 massive games before us, after this we will be cemented in the top 2 or mid table.
0

Suffolkboy added 13:55 - Feb 1 WK is absolutely correct to highlight the requirement to deal with the ‘physical ‘ side ; it's a definite identifiable weakness ,and has been for quite some time ! There are solutions ,and all round consistent agility ,harrying and belief coupled to insistent athleticism will help ! Come on boys , you can do it : let's be nothing but full of self belief ! COYB
0

Blogs 295 bloggers

Ipswich Town Polls