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Soccer
Kieran McKenna taking the positives from Ipswich’s victory over Blackpool
Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna looked to the positives from the 2-1 FA Cup victory over Blackpool ahead of a busy league schedule.
A trademark curling finish from Jaden Philogene and a header from Jacob Greaves ensured victory for Ipswich but they had numerous chances to extend their lead.
The Tangerines’ goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell denied the Tractor Boys on a series of occasions before Ashley Fletcher netted a last-minute penalty for the visitors.
McKenna said: “I thought there were positive out there and a useful game for us, minutes for certain players, rhythm for other players, and came through with no injuries.
“It was tactically a very good game for us as we’ve got five teams coming in the league and some references we can take from it, scored a really good goal in the first half. I thought we generally moved the ball well in some really good areas.
“We had some really good connections. Of course we still need to be more efficient to go and get that second goal earlier with the amount of opportunities that we had and the opportunities where we get into big situations and decisions and the final pass still can be better.
“We got the second goal with a set play and the game should be done there at 2-0 really before the referee decided to jump in in the 94th and make it an interesting last minute.”
Blackpool head coach Ian Evatt was disappointed to go out of the cup but was delighted with his players for their performance.
Evatt said: “Obviously disappointed to go out but proud of the way the players have tried to execute a different performance today.
“We wanted to be front footed, aggressive with or without the ball and today we had to give respect to the opposition and play more of a block and frustrate them and wait for transitions. I thought we did that really well.
“We switched off probably once in the first half, didn’t close the middle of the pitch fast enough and we got punished and that’s what you get facing quality players.
“We had chances. We didn’t quite take those moments when we needed to.
“We just wanted to come here and show we are a good team. We kept the game tight and close and had chances to level it up.”
