A quick glance at the league table would suggest Town have taken to the Championship like a duck to water this season following promotion from League One, but Luke Woolfenden says the step-up has been significant.

The Town defender highlighted the difference in approach that many opposition sides have made this season, with a more fearless attitude from teams with greater quality of players.

Reflecting on the opening 34 games of the season, which have yielded an incredible 72 points, Woolfenden says the Blues are enjoying the step up in level and facing better opposing playing squads.

“So far so good,” he said. “We’re giving a great account of ourselves, everyone’s having a great time and we’re enjoying what the boss is putting into place.

“The step up is difficult to say because in League One teams were setting up to stop us. We probably weren’t seeing the full potential of the players they had because they were more worried about us. Whereas this season, teams are coming here attacking us and believing that they can beat us.

“Teams probably weren’t doing that that with us last season, and we’d struggled a bit with trying to break down teams towards the end of the season.

“But this season everyone’s coming out straight away and that’s the Championship to a tee – every game is hammer and nail, any team can beat any team because every team comes flying out the traps and really goes for it.

“So it’s difficult to answer but it is obvious, you’ve got players that cost £30 million playing for Leeds, £15-20 million players and big earners in this league that have had great careers. It’s a big step up.”

Remarkably, the Blues are six points better off at this stage of the season than they were in League One last term, yet they still find themselves third in the table behind Leicester City and Leeds United, the latter of which on goal difference.

“It just seems like any league we come into the other teams want to have record-breaking seasons as well,” Woolfenden said.

“But we were all quietly confident that we’d have a good season, it’s probably gone better than anyone could have imagined without trying to be pessimistic on it.

“It’s gone unbelievably, we’ve had a great start and, to be fair to all the boys and the boss, we’ve not really spoken about it. It’s just to keep ticking along and that’s what we’re doing.”

The homegrown defender, who has been at Town since he was 11 years old, is a mainstay in Kieran McKenna’s side having started 30 out of 34 league games this season, including the last 11 in a row.

On his own form, Woolfenden said: “I think I’ve had a good season individually. I’ve played the majority of games and carried out efficiently what the boss has asked me to do.

“That’s probably why I’ve stayed in the team for the majority of the season because he knows he can trust me with things he wants delivering, whether that be defending on the halfway line or building out from the back and having these big spaces that I deal with in one-v-one situations.

“I think that’s probably a good account for myself that I’ve had a good season so far.”

Four victories in a row have brought the Blues not only back into the fold for automatic promotion, but perhaps the title with McKenna’s side now only six points back from the Foxes at the top of the table.

“You can look at it how you want,” Woolfenden said. “There’s three great teams around us that have come down from the Premier League and we’re probably the only team that’s really keeping pace with them.

“If you want to call it a title race, I think the fans can call it that and get nervous and excited by it. We’re just in there ticking along.”

This weekend sees Town make the long trip to face Plymouth Argyle, a side the Blues are familiar with having competed alongside them for promotion from League One last season.
Some have spoken about a mini rivalry between the two sides, and Woolfenden believes that added edge could play its part at Home Park on Saturday.

“That’s probably going to play into it,” he said. “They took good joy in finishing above us and rightfully so as they had a great season. We’ve kicked on again this season and there’s a bit of space [between us], but there’s probably that bit of a point to prove from both aspects.

“We want to prove that we’re better than them despite where they finished last season, and they’ll probably be thinking they’ve got our number.

“They’ve given us good games wherever we’ve played, they beat us there last season, nicked a draw here last season and gave a good account of themselves earlier this season. It’ll be a tough game.”

Attention soon turned to manager McKenna, who recently celebrated his 100th league game in charge of the Blues. Woolfenden says he is excellent at staying level-headed after any result.

He said: “There’s been times when we’ve come in from games and he’s very good at reading the room. Sometimes we’ll be up when we’ve won but we’ve not played well and he’ll come in and say ‘we’ve won but let’s not kid ourselves’.

“And there’ll be other times when we’ve drawn but we’re not far off winning and we’re all in there beating ourselves up a bit and he’s come in and said ‘actually there’s a lot of good things out there’.

“So he’s very good in that sense and the key to it with the boys is that we’ve all worked really hard and we’re all pulling in the same direction, regardless of whether we’re playing or we’re not in the squad.

“There’s no bad apples in the group, everyone’s really determined to get Ipswich to have a good end to the season.”

Woolfenden has made more starts under McKenna than any other player, with 100 of his 178 starts for the club coming since the Northern Irishman was appointed in December 2021.

“He knows nine times out of ten what he’s going to get from me with regards to on the ball and the way that I play,” Woolfenden said. “He sees that, Perty [Martyn Pert] sees that and I’ve played the most under him in those games.

“It does speak massively that he trusts me and I’m thankful for that because I’ve never really had that in my career. It’s something new for me and I’m really thankful for it.

“Mistakes happen and the higher up you get the more they’ll happen because teams are attacking you more and the games are more to-and-fro, especially in the Championship where games are more like basketball games and there’s not teams that will sit and dominate the ball for a prolonged period of time without a team causing that threat on the counter-attack.

“He’s quite good in that sense, even when you come out of the team he’ll sit you down and explain it and by the time you’ve come out of the meeting you’re almost happy that you’ve been dropped in a way because he’s so good at explaining his reasons. I’m really grateful for the fact he’s kept faith in me.”

Woolfenden also highlighted the work assistant boss Pert has done with the defenders on their aerial game, which was tested to the max in the Blues’ recent victory at Swansea City.

The 25-year-old said: “I’ve done a lot of work with Perty this season on the defensive side of the game. It’s easier in League One when teams are looking to just defend, but now you’ve got a striker that’s pressing you and chasing things down so you’ve got to get onto things quickly.

“And in terms of winning duels, it’s about trying to pick out a player on your team so you can sustain the attack instead of just clearing it and defending for longer periods. It’s something that all of us have worked on with Perty and we’ve improved on it.”

The deadline day addition of 6ft 5in striker Kieffer Moore on loan from Bournemouth has given Town a new weapon to utilise in attack. However, Woolfenden says that may not necessarily open the door for him or defensive partner Cameron Burgess to get on the end of set pieces.

“Chaz [Charlie Turnbull, chief analyst] has got me back on the halfway line at the minute, that Maidstone counter-attack has given him nightmares,” he laughed.

“Big Kieffer from any cross or set-plays, you’ve seen the size of him, he’s an absolute monster of a man.

“Leif [Davis] must be licking his lips chasing down that assist record, signing big Kieffer’s only going to help him do that and vice-versa, they’re going to be massive for each other.”

Photo: TWTD

MK1 added 17:50 - Feb 29 Totally amazing that we are even talking about another possible promotion. The squad and backroom staff have just be fantastic. What =ever happens from here on in, it has been a hell of a season.
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SickParrot added 20:21 - Feb 29 I want Wolfie to do well because he is "one of our own" but I can't agree with his assessment that he's having a good season. He has started nearly all the games (because of a lack of a suitable right footed alternative?). He has had good games of course but there have also been quite a few poor performances. For me he's just too casual, so his game lacks urgency and he makes more than his fair share of mistakes.

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BlueRuin69 added 20:32 - Feb 29 Been brilliant, keep it up. Coyb
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Dissboyitfc added 08:04 - Mar 1 I also want Wolfie to do well, and agree with SickParrot hes had good games and not so good games, the jump up in quality should of course be taken into account, but we are leaking goals at times and quite a few are down to mistakes or poor decision making by him as well as some of those around him! But it is whatever your thoughts are on the conceded goals situation an awesome season!

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keighleyblue added 08:12 - Mar 1 Some of our so called fans should be so proud of what this player is achieving. End of.
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Dissboyitfc added 11:18 - Mar 1 We are keighly, hate to disappoint you but this is a forum for fans to share opinions, and when opinions differ we are still fans!
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