Blues Travel to Accrington Targeting New Away Start Record Friday, 2nd Sep 2022 11:47 Ipswich Town travel to Accrington Stanley on Saturday aiming to win their first four away games at the start of a season for the first time in their history. The three victories at Forest Green, 2-1, Burton Albion, 1-0, and Shrewsbury, 3-0, saw Town match a record only previously achieved in the 1936/37 campaign, their first season as a professional club in which they went on to top the Southern League. Town remain unbeaten in the league but dropped to second behind Portsmouth on goals scored following last week’s 2-2 home draw with Barnsley. Accrington are also unbeaten but have drawn four of their five league games including all three of their home matches up to now. They have also drawn their two cup ties, both at home, losing on penalties to Tranmere in the Carabao Cup and then defeating Rochdale via spot-kicks following a 3-3 draw on Tuesday in the Papa Johns Trophy. Quizzed on how impressed he’d been by Stanley’s start to the season, manager Kieran McKenna said: “There are no surprises now with Accrington and what they bring. They have done it to a good level for the last few years, full respect to them for that. “[Manager] John [Coleman] has done a terrific job and the club has done a terrific job. Their recruitment is very, very good. They seem to manage to sell on and then refresh year after year with, primarily, young and really hungry players. “They work ever so hard, they make the game really energetic and frantic, they do it very well and it is a really tough place to go. “So credit to them for how they have built the club over the last few years, they have performed well in the division and I see the same things this year. They are going to be a very tough team to play against, certainly at home.” Asked if he is expecting a similar game to the Burton clash, McKenna reflected: “I think there are some similarities. They [Accrington] play with high energy and a really positive and aggressive spirit, in terms of how they try to press you and how they try to attack. “Another tight pitch and a team who like long throws and put the ball into your box and put in dangerous opportunities at the first chance. There are some similarities to the game [with Burton] and some differences as well that I don’t need to go into. “But I think it’s a similar type of challenge. We managed to come through Burton but there are certain things we can do a lot better than we did on that night and things we need to do better than we did to make sure we get a good result.” McKenna will almost certainly make nine or 10 changes to the team which beat Northampton 6-0 on Tuesday. Christian Walton will return in goal behind the back three of Janoi Donacien, Luke Woolfenden and George Edmundson with Wes Burns and Leif Davis the wing-backs. Skipper Sam Morsy and Lee Evans will be at the centre of the midfield with five-goal top scorer Marcus Harness perhaps a survivor from the Cobblers game as one of the number 10s. It was hoped Conor Chaplin, who was withdrawn from the 18 on Tuesday due to a minor groin problem, would train today and if the former Barnsley man comes through OK it’s likely he’ll start. Otherwise, Tyreece John-Jules will probably come back into that role. Freddie Ladapo, who scored his first Town goal late on against Northampton, is likely to be the number nine with new signing Gassan Ahadme - who scored at the Wham Stadium for Burton in their recent 4-4- draw with Stanley - perhaps among the subs.
Accrington manager John Coleman is determined to turn all those early-season draws into victories with their only win so far a 1-0 success at Shrewsbury in their second fixture. “We are unbeaten but we haven’t won nearly enough,” he told Stanley’s official website. “We have only won one game and we have to start winning games, that’s the currency in football and we are desperate to do that. “Ipswich are a massive club and they have signed a raft of quality players. It didn’t quite materialise for them last season but I like to see the big clubs thrive, be where they belong and Ipswich don’t belong in League One. However, while they are in this level, we will do our damnedest to make it difficult for them. “We have shown we can compete in League One and win games, we just want to win more.”
He wasn’t happy with his side’s display as they drew 0-0 at home to Exeter last week. “It was disappointing Saturday as we did nothing to enthral the fans and consequently we had a flat atmosphere, and that happens in football,” he said. “Hopefully the atmosphere will be very good on Saturday and we can respond to that and give them something to cheer about. “We have to got to get on the front foot, we have got to start defending better, start attacking better and try and get the fans on the edge of their seats and make the opposition's goalkeeper work. If you do that, you have got a chance of winning the game.” He added: “An unbeaten start can mask a lot of things. I don’t think we have hit the heights that I know we are capable of. “We are still making loads of chances but we are also squandering a lot of chances. We are not hitting the target nowhere near the frequency we should be and that’s got to be addressed. “We are also conceding too many goals and that has to be addressed too. We have young and new players who are still adapting to our system. The longer they play, the better they will get, I hope, we have just got to keep working with them.” Defender Rosaire Longelo is a doubt with a hamstring problem, while centre-half Jay Rich-Baghuelou is out for the season with an ankle injury and defender Michael Nottingham is out with a tendon problem midfielder David Morgan is also sidelined. Accrington added defender Bailey Sloane from Clitheroe on a permanent basis on deadline day. The teams have only previously met seven times in their history, all in the last five seasons with the Blues winning four and Stanley three, all in the league aside from the Lancastrians' 1-0 FA Cup third round win at the Wham Stadium in January 2019. Town have won only once at the Wham Stadium, the 2-1 win over 10-man Stanley under caretaker-boss Matt Gill in February 2021 with incoming boss Paul Cook watching from the stand. James Wilson and James Norwood scored the Town goals that night. The teams last met at Portman Road in January when Burns and Chaplin were on target as Town came from a goal down to win 2-1. Ethan Hamilton gave the visitors the lead on 15 but Burns hit back from a sublime Bersant Celina pass eight minutes later and Chaplin smashed home the winner in the 65th minute. Later, Blues captain Morsy was suspended for four games by an FA Independent Regulatory Commission for a clash with Stanley’s Ethan Hamilton which had been highlighted on social media by Accrington chairman Andy Holt. In October last year, Stanley came from a goal down at half-time to beat under-par Town 2-1 at the Wham Stadium. Macauley Bonne gave the Blues the lead in the 38th minute with his eighth goal of the season but the home side netted through Colby Bishop and Harry Pell on 50 and 79 to deservedly claim the points. Centre-half Cameron Burgess joined the Blues from Accrington for £750,000 in August last year having spent one season with Stanley, making 50 starts and two sub appearances, scoring six times. Defender Donacien moved to Town for £750,000 in the summer of 2018, while striker Kayden Jackson joined the Blues from Accrington for £1.6 million during the same close season. Both were members of Stanley’s 2017/18 League Two title-winning side. Saturday’s referee is Anthony Backhouse from Cumbria, who has shown 16 yellow cards and no red in six games so far this season. Backhouse’s most recent Town match was the FA Cup tie at Coventry in November 2019 which ended 1-1. Andre Dozzell, Flynn Downes and one Sky Blue were booked. Prior to that, Backhouse’s only other Town game was the 2-0 defeat at Stoke in December 2018 in which he replaced the referee who had started the match, Geoff Eltringham, in the 39th minute and showed yellow cards to Gwion Edwards and Potters’ full-back Erik Pieters. Squad from: Walton, Hladky, Donacien, Woolfenden, Edmundson, Keogh, Burgess, Burns, Vincent-Young, Leigh, Davis, Morsy (c), Evans, Ball, Humphreys, Harness, Edwards, Chaplin, John-Jules, Ladapo, Jackson, Ahadme.
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