Kieran McKenna declares minimum Ipswich points target, Leeds United plan and missed chance take

Third-placed Ipswich went into Saturday evening’s Championship clash at Hull knowing that a victory would put them on the verge of automatic promotion by sending them second and two points clear of Leeds – and with an additional fixture still to play.

Ipswich, though, were held to a 3-3 draw which has kept McKenna’s side behind Leeds in third, level on 90 points but with a minus seven worse goal difference. The Tractor Boys will now make a quick return to action by taking in their other game in hand on Tuesday evening at Coventry City – ahead of which McKenna says his side’s point at Hull must be seen as a positive.

Ipswich will host relegation-bound Huddersfield Town on Saturday’s final day of the season and McKenna says his side were specifically targeting a minimum of five points from their last three games in order to get automatic promotion done.

As quoted by TWTD, McKenna was asked whether the draw was an opportunity missed or a case of moving one point closer and declared: “I think we’ll always take the positive perspective from it. That puts us to 90 points, we know the significance of that. I’m not sure anyone’s ever done that in the EFL, got 90 points two seasons in a row in two different divisions, it’s an incredible achievement.

“Of course, we know what we need from the last two games and hopefully tonight will prove to be a really, really big point.

“You can look at the game and say that we had the chances to get the fourth goal that probably have killed the game. On the other hand, we scored two great goals from outside the box. We’ll take the positives and we’ll move on to Tuesday night.”

As far as Tuesday’s clash at Coventry is concerned, even a point for Ipswich would put their automatic promotion destiny in their own hands over Leeds for the final day. That, admits McKenna, is the clear plan, even if it means just a draw at Coventry.

“That’s the goal, for sure,” said McKenna. “We knew coming into today we needed five points. That’s certainly the objective, to try and get a result on Tuesday night, hopefully a win, but to get a positive result that keeps things under our control going into the last game.

"Every game’s been a big game for I don’t know how long now and I think you can see the effort we’ve put into every game. Tuesday night won’t be any different, tonight wasn’t any different. I know the players will give their all. I think we’re playing well, I think we’re performing well, we’re doing a lot of good things as a team.

“I think you can see the team aren’t playing with a great deal of anxiety or anything like that. I think they’re enjoying the matches, enjoying the stage of the season and where we’re at. Of course, the games are hard and they’re tight because of the level we’re operating at and the step up we’ve made, but we’re enjoying it.

“What a wonderful position to be in, what a great game to look forward to on Tuesday night. We know, whatever happens now, we’re going to go back to Portman Road on Saturday morning in contention for automatic promotion to the Premier League. What a wonderful thing to be involved in.

“We’ll embrace that but most importantly, we’ll recover and prepare to try and deliver a performance on Tuesday.”