Ipswich Town man makes assured 'big troubles' claim in face of Leeds United promotion pressure

Goalkeeper Vaclav Hladky doesn't anticipate Ipswich Town having 'big troubles' as they push to secure automatic promotion from the Championship. The Tractor Boys are without a win in three in the league, having drawn their last two games against Middlesbrough and Watford after their demoralising derby defeat to Norwich City.

As such, their inactivity over the weekend, due to Coventry City's FA Cup commitments, has allowed others to knock them off their perch in the Championship. Leicester City are the new league leaders, sitting four points ahead of Leeds and five ahead of third placed Ipswich.

The Suffolk outfit have a game in hand to their advantage and they know that if they win their three remaining games, against Hull City, Coventry and Huddersfield Town they will win promotion to the Premier League. Their aforementioned form makes such a task easier said than done, though, not to mention the fact that at the time of writing all three of their opponents still have plenty to play for.

Ipswich have managed to bounce back from every major setback they have had this season, though, and Hladky is convinced the Tractor Boys will do enough to get over the line.

“I don’t know about the other teams, but from our point of view, I’ve seen good performances,” he told the East Anglian Daily Times. I don’t think we’ve got too many issues, so we just want to stay on it and do exactly what we’ve been doing all season. I don’t see any big troubles.”

Get a personalised Leeds United news round-up, as well as breaking news, when you sign up for our free Leeds United newsletter email.

With Leeds travelling to play QPR on Friday night, Ipswich could be four points adrift of the top two by the time they kick-off against Hull City at the MKM Stadium on Saturday. Such a result would certainly dial up the pressure on Kieran McKenna's side and make a slip up in either East Yorkshire or the West Midlands extremely costly.

Hladky isn't too concerned about results elsewhere, though, and while he sees no issues following other teams fortunes, he's completely focused on the job at hand.

“For me, personally, it’s easy," he added. "I can’t look into the heads of the other lads, but as a team, I think there’s no disruption. We played well [vs Middlesbrough], we went for the win, especially in the first half. We played on the front foot and we tried to kill the game early on. I don’t see any problems in terms of looking at the other results.”

The results Leicester City have picked up during Ipswich’s extended break put them in the driving seat in the Championship and they could secure promotion on Monday night with a win over Preston North End at Deepdale. Should Ipswich drop points against the Tigers, though, Enzo Maresca’s table toppers, who have led the way for much of the campaign, would be able to get their hands on the title with a result in Lancashire.