Town visit Bolton Wanderers on Saturday aiming to extend their winning run to five games and also targeting a new club record of six league clean sheets on the bounce.

The Blues go into the match third, five points behind second-placed Plymouth with the Trotters having dropped to fifth behind Barnsley, six points behind Town having played a game more.

Kieran McKenna’s side have kept clean sheets in their last five games, equalling a record previously achieved in the league at this time last year, in August and September 2019, in March and April 2013 and during the same period in 1997.

Town have gone 506 minutes without conceding with a record of 592 minutes having been achieved during last year’s similar run of form.

The Blues last won five successive matches in the league in October 2003 during Joe Royle's time as boss, although more recently they recorded five victories on the bounce in all competitions in September and October 2019.

Having won four in a row against teams in the lower reaches of the division scoring 12 goals, the Blues go into tougher matches against the Trotters and then the Tykes with their confidence having been given a boost after a run of poorer results around Christmas.

“I think that’s fair to say,” McKenna said. “Everyone feels better after winning games. I think we’ve managed to stay pretty even all season between not being too high and not being too low in different phases.

“Because, not just for us but for every team, there are always swings in the season and there are spells for every team where you win more and spells where you don’t pick up results, and it’s about being consistent with your performances and being consistent with your emotions to make sure that you deliver as high a level performance as you can.

“And if you do that, then you give yourself a good chance to make your low periods shorter and your high periods last longer, and that’s what we need to do at the moment.

“Try and keep this run going and go into a really tough game on Saturday with a lot of positivity, a lot of emotion, and a lot of humility to attack a really good opponent.”

McKenna is delighted with the clean sheets, which he says have been built on the way the squad has gelled and paid tribute to the senior players.

“That’s been really important and it doesn’t come easy,” he said. “Especially when you bring in new players to a group, especially when you go through a period when you’re not picking up as many wins as what you want.

“And with the players returning from injury in the January period, we’ve now got a big squad. It’s not easy to have a good team morale, a good squad ethic, to have everyone pulling in the same direction and I think that’s testament to the characters that are in the building.

“To the leadership from Sam Morsy, but also Richard Keogh and Sone Aluko have a massive part of that as two senior players and fantastic people.

“And we have a leadership group on the side of that as well. And in general, the club has worked hard to make sure that we are bringing in the right type of characters and retaining the right type of characters who contribute to the culture here.

“We feel that we’ve done all of that well. You can’t take the spirit and morale for granted, you have to keep working on it and again I think we are still working on those things with the squad, as we are the things on the pitch to keep improving the spirit and mentality in the group, and I think we’re in a good direction.”

McKenna isn’t surprised that Bolton are among the clubs challenging towards the top of the division.

“I thought their form was very, very strong in the second half of last season and I would have thought their points in the second half of last season would have had them up in the very top echelons of the league,” he said.

“They are up there again this season. They’ve kept hold of their best players, or a lot of their best players, from last season from a very strong second half of the year and they’ve recruited very well.

“This season, I think they are in a really good position to recruit from the big academies and they’ve done that very well.

“Geographically they’re in a good position, it’s a big club and they’ve got a positive playing style and are well-coached by a good manager [Ian Evatt].

“They’ve managed to recruit the likes of Conor Bradley [on loan from Liverpool] and Shola Shoretire [on loan from Manchester United] and some top-end young players who have helped their squad. And they’ve recruited from different markets well as well. They’re doing a lot of things well.

“They have good players, they have a good manager and a good playing style, and that’s why they’re doing well in the league.

“We know we’re in for a tough game, but I’m sure they know they’re in for a tough game as well. They will know our strengths very well and I’m looking forward to seeing both teams go at each other.”

Shoretire is well known to McKenna from his days on the Old Trafford staff and the Blues boss was asked what he feels are the forward’s main strengths.

“It’s a really good question on Shola because he’s such a good all-round footballer that he probably doesn’t have too many weaknesses,” he reflected.

“He’s a really intelligent player, technically very good with good physical capability and he’s an all-round really good multifaceted forward player.

“We’ll be aware of his strengths and what we’re going to have to deal with him for the minutes that he’s on the pitch. But they have a lot of other good players as well that we have to be aware of.

“We’ll pay our respect to them as a team and each individual as we do for every game, and Shola is certainly one of them that we’ll have to pay attention to.”

Town have got used to dominating the ball against opposition sides defending en masse, but Bolton play in a similar way to the Blues with the teams first and second in the League One possession stats, McKenna's side averaging 61.52 per cent and the Trotters 56.15 per cent.

“I think both teams will be positive and try and get on the front foot, and both teams try and play in different ways, but both teams try and play an attacking and brave style of play,” McKenna said.

“I’m sure Bolton will want to impose themselves and we have the mentality that whatever stadium we go to, we want to go there and impose ourselves, so it should make for a high-intensity and exciting game, hopefully.”

Bolton go into the match having won only one of their last three following a run of five successive wins. But at the University of Bolton Stadium they have won their last five and overall in the league at home this season they have won 12, drawn four and lost only two, to Oxford, 3-1 in October, and Sheffield Wednesday, 2-0 in August.

They have conceded 28 goals in total in the league this season, the second-lowest with Town fourth having shipped three more. At home the Trotters have conceded only nine, the fewest in the division.

Bolton have scored the seventh most in League, 51, with Town the top scorers on 68. But at home Evatt's men's 28 goals is only the jont-ninth highest total.

Does Bolton’s home form come into how McKenna will line up his side on Saturday? “Not necessarily in terms of how we set up. It probably expresses the challenge. Their home record is very good and that reflects in that recent run.

“But we know that they are a good team anyway and we know that they have strengths, and we know that there are things we are going to have to do very well from a defensive point of view to try and stop them.

“But it doesn’t change our mindset that whatever stadium we go to, we want to go there and be positive and brave and have a focus on what we can do and how we can go and try and hurt teams.

“We’ll keep that mindset whilst respecting Bolton and their really good record and performances at home this year.”

Looking back on the opening-day 1-1 draw with the Trotters at Portman Road, McKenna said: “I think we had a big chance at the end to win it [when a Sam Morsy effort was saved], if I remember right.

“It was a typical first game of the season start. It was really intense, both teams were pressing well, neither team was particularly conductive on the ball in the first 20 minutes.

“And, of course, it hinged on a penalty decision and a penalty to the opponent [scored by Aaron Morley] which makes it a good start for them. If we’d have got the penalty we would have said it was a good start for us.

“Once we got into our flow, and the goal against probably helped us in the first game of the season, we got a goal back quickly from a set play and I thought in general it was a really good second half performance.

“There are some things from that game that I’m sure will be similar but there are things that we will look to do better than we did on that day and I’m sure there are things that Bolton will have looked and think they can do better than on that day.

“It’s away from home in very different weather and conditions than that game was played in, so I think we need to be ready for the challenge ahead of us and take the game as it comes on Saturday.”

From the current top six, Town have beaten only Derby, 1-0 at Portman Road in October, but their performances have probably deserved more when facing a number of the other top sides.

“It’s not something I think about too much, to be honest, because the top six fluctuates,” McKenna said when quizzed on his side’s record against teams in the top six. “I’ve seen these things before - who are the big clubs in the league, who are the best teams?

“We’ve beaten Peterborough, we’ve beaten Portsmouth and I would have thought Portsmouth were top of the league whenever we beat them early in the season, Peterborough were possibly in the play-offs whenever we beat them or not far away from it. I don’t think it’s always the case of looking exactly at the league position.

“Of course, if you’re talking about the teams right at the top, Sheffield Wednesday, we had two really good games against them and two draws.

“Plymouth, we definitely feel that we could have got more out of those two games and deserved more out of those two games.

“We beat Derby, and Barnsley there is no doubt in my mind that should have been a win other than for a refereeing decision.

“So it’s very fine margins in the games and certainly there are always going to be fine margins against the teams at the top of this division because there are a lot of good teams.

“But we don’t overthink those things and we just respect each opponent as we did Accrington, as we did Burton and as we certainly will do Bolton.

“We make sure we know their strengths and what they’re going to try and do, but also focus on how we can go and hurt them and our mindset won’t change too much whether it’s a team in the top, middle or bottom of the division.”

While the Blues are at Bolton, the Pilgrims are at Oakwell to face Barnsley, but McKenna says he’s taking no notice of that match. Elsewhere, leaders Sheffield Wednesday are at Portsmouth.

“I’ve not thought about it, to be honest,” he insisted. “I’ve not thought about the other games this weekend. I honestly wouldn’t be able to tell you too many of the fixtures at all around ours.

“I think it’s a really big game anyway. Bolton away was always going to be a marker for us of where we were at.

“Earlier in the season, it was a really good game against them. Last season, it was a marker on areas that we needed to improve on. Although it was a tight game, but we came out on the wrong side of it and probably didn’t do enough.

“So this game was always going to be a big game in the season for a marker of how we’re developing as a team and how good we can be, and how good we want to be.

“I think that was always going to be a big fixture in the calendar, and it certainly is going to shape up that way.”

Christian Walton will continue in goal but Harry Clarke could return to the right of the backline with Luke Woolfenden and Cameron Burgess continuing. Leif Davis will be on the left with Wes Burns likely to return on the right for Kayden Jackson.

Skipper Morsy - still on nine bookings with a yellow card in the next two matches prior to the amnesty leading to a two-match ban - will be in the centre of midfield alongside Massimo Luongo with 19-goal top scorer Conor Chaplin and Nathan Broadhead, who is yet to score away from home for the Blues, behind either Freddie Ladapo, who has started the last two, or George Hirst, who impressed in the most recent away game, the 1-0 victory at MK Dons.

Bolton have striker Victor Adeboyejo fit again after missing the last two with a hamstring injury, while veteran former Norwich City frontman Cameron Jerome is available following a back injury.

George Johnston and MJ Williams are on the way back from injury but won’t be ready for Saturday, while Lloyd Isgrove is closing in on a return having played and scored for the Trotters’ B side in midweek. Jon Dadi Bodvarsson and Jack Iredale are long-term absentees.

Saturday’s game is the first of three big fixtures for Bolton with a trip to Sheffield Wednesday next Friday and the Papa Johns Trophy final against Plymouth at Wembley at the start of April.

“We have 11 really big games to contend with, that is how I am viewing it,” Evatt told the Bolton News.

“The next three games will be as big of a test as you can have — first, second and third in the table, which is a brilliant challenge to go and express ourselves.

“I have said it loads of times, pressure is a privilege. If you would have asked every Bolton Wanderers fan at the start of the season about being in the play-offs by six points and being in a cup final at Wembley, I think we would have all snapped your hand off! Let’s just enjoy that we are in the mix at the business end of the season.”

Unlike Town, the Trotters had no Tuesday game and Evatt says he used the time productively.

“I think we have had a really good week,” he continued. “We have managed to reset, refresh and work on things in training.

“When you are playing the bigger teams — no disrespect to the other teams — but you have to respect them a little bit more and focus more than we usually would on some more out-of-possession detail.

“These teams can hurt you and Ipswich can certainly hurt us on Saturday, but we feel we can hurt them as well. I think it is going to be a really good game.”

He added: “Kieran is a guy that I respect a lot. I think the respect is mutual. He respects our team and we respect his. They’re a pleasing team on the eye and they’re doing a lot of things right. It’s a great challenge for us.”

Historically, the Blues have the edge, having won 21 games between the sides (19 in the league), Bolton 14 (10) and with 13 (12) ending in draws.

At Portman Road on the opening day of the season in July, Lee Evans netted as the Blues and Bolton Wanderers drew 1-1 at Portman Road.

Aaron Morley gave the visitors the lead from the penalty spot in the 25th minute, before Evans converted from a neatly-worked corner seven minutes before the break and the Blues looked much the more likely winners in the second half without being able to find a second goal, Trotters keeper James Trafford saving with his feet from Morsy at the death.

In January last year at the University of Bolton Stadium, second-half goals from Kieran Lee and Dapo Afolayan saw McKenna fall to his first defeat as Blues boss as Town were beaten 2-0.

The Blues were on top for long spells but without creating clear-cut chances before Lee rebounded the Trotters’ opener on 74 and sub Afolayan profited from a George Edmundson error with nine minutes left on the clock.

Saturday’s referee is Neil Hair from Cambridgeshire, who has shown 78 yellow cards and six red in 21 games so far this season.

Hair’s most recent Town match was the 3-0 win at Shrewsbury in August in which he turned down a blatant Blues penalty after Kane Vincent-Young had been upended by Tom Flanagan’s wild, two-footed lunge from behind.

Hair, a later replacement official in that game, booked Blues skipper Morsy and Shrews’ forwards Tom Bayliss.

Prior to that he was in charge of the 1-1 FA Cup draw at home to Oldham in November last year in which he again yellow-carded Morsy as well as Janoi Donacien and two of the visitors.

He was most recently at Portman Road for the 1-0 Carabao Cup defeat to Newport in August 2021 when he booked Aluko and two Exiles.

A month earlier he was in Suffolk for the 1-0 friendly defeat to Crystal Palace in which the Eagles’ winning goal came via a penalty awarded for a foul by Vincent-Young on Wilfried Zaha.

Hair also took charge of the 1-0 win at Burton in January 2021 in which he booked James Norwood, Luke Chambers and Andre Dozzell.

Before that he took control of the Papa John’s Trophy tie at home to Arsenal’s U21s in September last year in which he booked Jon Nolan and one of the visitors.

He was also at Portman Road for the 1-0 league defeat to Fleetwood in March 2020 in which he booked former skipper Chambers and one opposition player.

Hair was also the man in the middle for the 1-1 home draw with Sunderland in August 2019 in which he yellow-carded Kayden Jackson and one Black Cat.

Squad from: Walton, Hladky, Clarke, Donacien, Woolfenden, Keogh, Burgess, Edmundson, Burns, Jackson, Vincent-Young, Davis, Leigh, Morsy, Humphreys, Luongo, Ball, Edwards, Chaplin, Harness, Aluko, Broadhead, Ladapo, Hirst.

Photo: TWTD

Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 17:55 - Mar 9 As long as we win, I won't mind too much about the clean sheet.
5

carlgibbs13 added 07:16 - Mar 10 I would happily concede 6 goals in this game, as long a score 7. For me, a win is more important than a clean sheet.
1

bobble added 07:28 - Mar 10 bolton are easybeats 2-0 to town,,,broadbum to score first
1

dirtydingusmagee added 09:06 - Mar 10 Barnsley are our biggest threat imo, we MUST beat them .
2

Ipswichbusiness added 09:15 - Mar 10 We seem to have improved over the last few weeks, which is a credit to the management. I am not a fan of the winter transfer window as the wrong players become available and there is little time to integrate new signings when you are playing twice a week. However, KMc and MA seem to have done very well on both counts. That said, Bolton away will be a much tougher test than Accrington at home and the weather is likely to be foul (although that will be the same for both teams!).

1

RodKnee added 14:48 - Mar 10 Hi guys actually the weather here is fine now, bright and sunny so no danger of the game being off as the snow is moving South. Hopefully that won't affect your travelling too much but the roads look pretty clear. The pitch should be good as the undersoil heating will have melted any remaining snow so it's all set for a cracking game between two sides who want to win. If you win it's definitely the automatics for you, if Wanderers win I think we're both looking at the play offs? Too early to say though because both yourselves and Barnsley have a tough looking run in, though sometimes that can work in your favour to keep you switched on. Looking forward to a good game tomorrow anyway so let's just hope we don't get a bad ref to spoil it? Safe journey to those coming. 😉

8

ringwoodblue added 15:49 - Mar 10 @RodKnee - thanks for the weather update and your fair assessment of tomorrows game. Even if we win tomorrow, automatic promotion is far from in the bag as we have to maintain a crazy long winning run and Plymouth still have to slip up a few times. I reckon if Plymouth win tomorrow against the Tykes, then they have pretty much secured an automatic spot.
1

Nomore4 added 19:23 - Mar 10 To keep in the hunt for top 2 it will take a minimum 7 points over next 3 games to be had. A point at Barnsley…..next 2 are must wins.
0

IpswichT62OldBoy added 20:04 - Mar 10 Worried about the ref, Morsy is vulnerable.
1

IPSWICH1078 added 08:03 - Mar 11 If we win 8 of our last 11 it will give us 93 points! I'm feeling optimistic!
0

dirtydingusmagee added 09:20 - Mar 11 COYB, LETS DO THIS !
0

Blogs 295 bloggers

Ipswich Town Polls