Ipswich Town man makes defiant promotion race vow as Leeds United handed opportunity

Ipswich Town won't concern themselves with the results of their promotion rivals over the next week, says Massimo Luongo. The league leaders were due to take on play-off chasers Coventry City on Saturday, but the Sky Blues' progression in the FA Cup means that game has been pushed back.

As such, Kieran McKenna's side have another week to wait until their next fixture against Hull City on April 27. However, Leicester City and Leeds United both play twice and Southampton have three matches to play before the Tractor Boys next kick a ball in the Championship.

It means that while they may lead the way at the time of writing, the Suffolk side could find themselves sitting as low as fourth by the time they kick off at the MKM Stadium, with the pressure firmly dialled up. Of course, Ipswich's fate remains in their own hands and should they pick up maximum points in their three remaining fixtures that will be enough to secure a spot in next season's Premier League.

They know then that even if none of the results go their way over the next nine days or so, they only need to focus on themselves and doing what they need to do to get over the line. That has been the message from McKenna all season and Luongo insists he won't be getting wrapped up in the ups and downs of the promotion race.

"He’s so bang-on about all that, never being too high or too low," Luongo told the East Anglian Daily Times about McKenna's level-headedness. "We’ve always worried about us. We rarely set up and change for a team, we always try to stick to our guns, stick to what we know best and try to do it better than we did before, obviously with tactics involved. Monday to Friday, we worry about ourselves.”

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On the promotion race, he added: “I think everyone is different in how they want to approach it. I saw Vas (Hladky) before the Watford game and I asked what he’d been up to the night before, he said he watched the Leeds game. I was like ‘oh, fair enough, I watched the Champions League.’ Everyone’s different. I think, over the course of the season, I haven’t cared about anyone really, just us. It’s easy to keep doing that. It’s definitely hard to avoid, especially if you’re on your phone all the time, but I try not to worry about them - especially if they play after us. Then you’re sort of chasing results and stuff like that.”