Town boss Kieran McKenna has been reflecting on his first 50 games in charge of the Blues having reached that milestone as his side drew 1-1 with Fleetwood at Portman Road last Friday.

That result was the 14th draw of his just under a year at Portman Road - he was appointed on 16th December last year, taking charge of his first game, the 1-0 home win against Wycombe 13 days later - with his side having won 27 times and lost just nine.

The Blues currently sit in second place, a point behind leaders Plymouth having played 20 games of the the 2022/23 League One campaign.

Quizzed on whether the team is where he hoped they would be after 50 games, he said: “It’s impossible to predict. You can’t look too far ahead, you’re thinking about the next game. You can’t predict now what we’ll look like after 100 games.

“Of course, you want to see improvement all the time, but improvement isn’t always linear, you have times when there’s a spike in your development and there are times when it’s a bit slower or you have to have some setbacks to go forward as well.

“But in general, I think the club and the team are both in a positive direction and we’ll look to continue that work.”

McKenna has won more matches and lost fewer in his first 50 than illustrious predecessors such as Sir Alf Ramsey and Sir Bobby Robson, while keeping more clean sheets, 25, but he plays down the significance of those figures.

“I don’t think you can read too much into comparing across generations and eras because the club is in different positions across those generations,” he said.

“Of course, the club has had some fantastic managers over the years and those who still adorn the walls of the training ground and of the stadium, and rightly so, and it’s an inspiration to be following in the footsteps of some of those.

“But in terms of results, we can only focus on the here and now and try and win as many games as we can.

“We’ve done pretty well in that regard and not lost too many, but we feel that as a team we could have had more and the focus on just keeping adding the three points as we go along and we’ll do the counting up at the end.”

Photo: Matchday Images

AYACCA added 15:31 - Dec 8 Keep up the good work. Great manager, like the guy
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Suffolkboy added 16:34 - Dec 8 AYACAA , I'd just reverse your structure – I like the man , his ethical attitude , work ethic and immense coaching and man management ability. All those qualities he brings to Managing ITFC and in hid dealings with all he comes into contact with ! He will turn into one of our best ever Managers. COYB
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Robert_Garrett added 19:55 - Dec 8 Keep right on to the end of the road...........
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