Head coach Scott Brown spoke to the press on Wednesday afternoon ahead of his sides under the lights clash against Ipswich Town at Portman Road.
Brown will be hoping to build on Town’s Emirates FA Cup victory at the weekend when they managed to overcome non-league side Ebbsfleet United in the Second Round.
The decisive goal in the 1-0 victory at the Kuflink Stadium was scored midway through the second half by Ged Garner, who was played through by Lewis Warrington before rifling his strike into the bottom corner.
Here’s what the gaffer had to say in his interview:
On the short break and the threats Ipswich poses…
“We’ve had five days, which is miles better than playing Saturday-Tuesday to try and get things organised, but we’ve had enough time. It’s going to be a hard game for us, but we have to understand our game plan and stick to the structure that we are going to end up playing – we’ve gone away from home and picked up some good results this season.
“We’ve watched Ipswich quite regularly and I like the way they play; they press the ball high up the park and are possession-based, with three centre-halves who are calm on the ball. Their midfielders want to support and help score goals, with their strikers and wingers also wanting to cause problems in any game.
“I spoke to Kieran [McKenna] at the start of the season about a couple of players and you can tell by the way he speaks about football, that he’s got a great understanding of the game. He’s a young coach who wants to learn and strives to be the best he can and that’s shown as he’s had a fantastic start so far.”
On getting instructions across and the league as a whole…
“It’s part and parcel of this league, you are going to come up against teams that have 20 to 25,000 fans where none of the players will be able to hear you on the sidelines, then you come home to us and we’re able to shout on instructions to the lads during the game.
“I was always a talker, helping people out on the pitch, and this side of the game came naturally to me in terms of speaking in front of people. I’m not a shy person as I let players know that I want them to play the way I want them to play, and I think you’ve got to have that confidence in yourself as well and know who is in your dressing room.
“You’ve got to give and take a little bit but at the same time, you’ve got to cherish it. It’s a fantastic league and Ipswich are a great club, who have been in form this season, and have a big fanbase but, yet again, we’ve got a brilliant football club here that we’ve got to be very proud of too.”
On the FA Cup win and Monday’s Third Round draw…
“It was a hard game, Ebbsfleet are a good team that try to play properly, it was an all-right performance. We were jumping and out of the shape now and again, we like a 4-2-3-1 but also like the two up top so we’ve got to understand that there’s going to be ins and outs of the game, especially coming up at the weekend against Ipswich who are a possession-based team.
“We managed to catch them on the counter, Lewis [Warrington] showed a great press and played the ball to Ged [Garner], who had a fantastic finish. That’s what Ged does, he wants to score goals, and has a great left foot on him, and I thought for his first game back, I thought he was exceptional.
“It was a hard pitch which was heavy on the lads’ legs but, for me, to get through these cup rounds is brilliant for me as a manager and for the lads, as it’s great to be in the Third Round. We managed to get a Championship team that are going to be extremely hard to beat, but we are lucky enough to get the tie at home.”