‘We were the better team until their goal’ – Town boss on Brighton defeat
Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna felt Brighton & Hove Albion’s first goal affected the game disproportionately as the Seagulls ran out 2-0 victors at Portman Road.
Goals from Kaoru Mitoma and Georginio Rutter saw Albion to the three points with Town never looking like getting back in it once they were behind, having had the better chances prior to the visitors going in front.
“I thought it was at best evens,” McKenna said reflecting on the game up until the goals. “I thought we were the more threatening team, they had more possession, certainly in the early parts of the game, but not really in threatening areas. I thought we probably had more threat and got to better areas.
“We finished the first half strongly, I thought we started the second half even better. We were the better team up until the point of their goal in the second half and the first real threat that we had on our goal.
“We defended the situation not as well as we would have liked and should have stopped the goal, and that changed the game really.
“From our point of view, it changed it disproportionately from what we would want, I think we could have found a better reaction than we did, but it looked like our confidence dropped in the game.
“Theirs certainly went up and they’ve got very good substitutes that they brought on with confidence, and they were the better team in the last 30 minutes.”
The game’s main talking point was Brighton striker Joao Pedro’s challenge on Town keeper Christian Walton, which referee Tony Harrington saw as warranting only a yellow card with most observers seeing it as a red.
“I’ve been asked about it a few times,” McKenna said. “I’ve not watched it back, to be honest.
“I think he’s left a little bit on the goalkeeper, I think he knows what he’s doing. It is what it is, it’s football, it happens, the referee gave a yellow card and dealt with it. It’s not something that we’re going to cry about too much.”
Keeper Christian Walton had to be assessed after taking a knock to the head following Joao Pedro’s heavy aerial challenge in the second half Picture: Barry Goodwin
Asked whether the incident affected Walton, who conceded the first goal not too long afterwards, McKenna added: “I’ve not spoken to him about it, so I don’t know. As I say, I’ve not watched the collision back, maybe it’s worse than I saw at the time.
“At the time I thought he left one on the goalkeeper, he knows what he’s doing. Was it a red card? As I say, I haven’t watched it back, at the time I wasn’t screaming for one. How Christian was after it, again, I’ll have to ask him.”
Quizzed on whether it felt like a missed opportunity with Wolves having lost last night to drop below the Blues, who returned to the bottom three following this evening’s match, and Everton also losing.
“No, not given the results,” he said. “I think given the type of game, given the fact that if we score, I think Wes has the shot which goes just by the post, you’d think we’ve probably just about earned that at that point in terms of how we grew into the game.
“We’ve competed on a really even keel with a good side. If I’m honest, the game was much, much, much more even than when we played them earlier in the season.
“So, we’ve competed on an even keel and when you’re in that position, then you want to get points from it and push on in the game.
“We don’t any points from it and then in the end, the way they took the game away, probably changes the feel of the game from actually what is a really competitive game that we were in a really good position.”
Brighton were able to bring the likes of Rutter and Danny Welbeck on as subs, giving the Seagulls the sort of strength off the bench the Blues had in the Championship last season.
“Yes, they’re in a great position with that but they’re eight years in the Premier League and they’re a lot of good decisions and a lot of money ahead of us in that aspect,” McKenna said.
“They’ve got real depth, especially in those forward positions to go like-for-like in terms of quality and profiles and age and everything else.
“And they did that to good effect in the second half and they’ve done that right through the season.
“You can see in some of the games that they’ve come back in against some of the big teams, maybe having had disappointing first halves and then kicked on in the second against some of the bigger teams and got results.
“It’s definitely a weapon to have, it’s where we want to be, it’s where we’ve been in the last couple of seasons, but we know where we’re at with that. We believe in the players we’ve got here, everyone’s doing their best.
“I think Brighton are a lot of years ahead of us, but it didn’t look like that for 60 minutes in the game, to be honest. It was a really at least even game but in the end they were able to open up a margin on us.”
Explaining why skipper Sam Morsy was on the bench in a league game for only the second time at Town, McKenna added: “Samy’s very important for us, is having a strong season, Kalvin [Phillips] has been coming into some good form as well.
“The turnaround from tonight to Sunday I think is the quickest we have all season and we know the level of the opponent we’re playing on Sunday, and in the Premier League for us, it’s going to be a really, really quick turnaround.
“Kalvin’s obviously not available for any minutes on Sunday [against his parent club], he’s been coming into good form, so we thought it was the right thing tonight to utilise him for good minutes and I think we’re going to need Samy for big minutes and and hopefully a big performance on Sunday.”
Yesterday, Town completed the protracted move for Aston Villa forward Jaden Philogene and McKenna says the Blues remain in the market for new players with another number nine and an additional forward understood to be the targets.
“We’ll try to be,” he said when asked if the Blues will stay active in the market. “If we can find quality that can improve us.
“I think our depth is pretty good now. If we can get everybody back fit, our depth is fine, but if we can add quality that can help the starting XI or quality that can help from the bench, then we certainly aim to try and do so.
“We’ll try and do that, but only if the right players are available that can really push us on.”
