Kieran McKenna hails Ipswich’s ‘decent progress’ after Blackburn defeat

Ipswich Town secured a dominant 3-0 Championship victory over Blackburn Rovers at Portman Road, thanks to two early strikes and a late third, keeping the promotion-chasing Tractor Boys in third place. The win also extended their perfect start to four wins in all competitions.

Blackburn were handed an early setback when debutant Eiran Cashin scored an own goal in the third minute.

Just eight minutes later, Town midfielder Jack Taylor doubled the advantage, and former Rovers striker Sam Szmodics wrapped up the scoring in the 88th minute.

Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna praised his side’s performance, calling it “a good step” and a sign of “decent progress.” He added: “It was a good performance and a good result.

We executed well under pressure at times, created big chances from flick-ons and second balls, and played through their press effectively.

“Getting the early goals was important, and defensively our intensity in the first half was excellent — we never gave the opposition a chance.

Ideally, we would have put the game beyond doubt earlier with the third goal, and we could have been more clinical. But the players’ intent and ideas were very good. It’s another day of progress and another three points for us.”

Blackburn head coach Valérien Ismaël, meanwhile, rued the impact of Ipswich’s opening goals, saying they killed his team’s momentum. The Rovers remain 20th in the table.

“The two first-half goals killed the game for us,” Ismaël said. “Ipswich didn’t have much else in the first half, but conceding twice so early makes it very difficult to recover, especially away against a strong team.”

He also highlighted a contentious moment in the second half when Yuki Ohashi was tackled in the box by Darnell Furlong, insisting it should have been a penalty. “We tried to fight back, but that was another clear penalty.

At some point, referees need to do their job. These are big decisions, and we urgently need VAR in the Championship. Without it, players can get away with dangerous tackles week in, week out.

“It doesn’t change the first-half goals, but in a 90-minute game, one decision could be the key to getting back into it.

Right now, we’re trying to find ourselves and solutions. We need to stay calm, ride out the storm, and wait for players to return to bring more energy and competition to the squad.”