Kieran McKenna hails ‘dominant’ Ipswich after win over Portsmouth

Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna hailed a “dominant performance” from his team in their 2-1 victory over Portsmouth.

First-half goals from Jaden Philogene and George Hirst helped Ipswich towards their second consecutive home victory in the Championship before Marlon Pack pulled a goal back in second-half stoppage time with a header from a corner.

McKenna said: “I thought for the most part it was a good performance, a good result.

“We were dominant in the first half apart from a little spell, a couple of sloppy moments which we need to learn from. Apart from that there was a lot to like about the first half, really intense, the pressing was really good, we worked the ball well, scored two really good goals, could have had another.

“Second half we again had chances to go 3-0, had to defend as a team against a good team, you still have to respect the opponent and in general I thought we defended really well to be honest.

“Of course we’re frustrated not to get the third goal and for them to get the one at the end.

“There were some good signs in the performance, some things to improve, and we move on.

“It felt like it was a dominant performance and we are still working on translating that into the scoreline. We can still be more clinical when we are on top.

“There was a period in the first half when we had a few sloppy moments, we need to improve on that.

“You don’t always get the scoreline but it was important to get the points.”

Philogene, who netted a hat-trick in Town’s previous home game against Sheffield United, struck in the ninth minute and Hirst four minutes before the break.

Sandwiched between those goals was a huge chance for Portsmouth, which saw Alex Palmer foil on-loan Tottenham winger Yang Min-hyeok in a one-on-one.

Ivan Azon hit the post late on as the hosts pressed for a third, before Pack’s late consolation.

Pompey head coach John Mousinho was impressed with his side’s second-half performance and wished they had shown the same in the first 45 minutes.

Mousinho said: “We are disappointed with the result, obviously.

“Contrasting the two halves, we took too long to get going and it took us to go a goal down to settle into the game and after that there was not a huge amount in it.

“The second goal is really disappointing. The big takeaway is that we waited to go two goals down to actually play and to actually show that we are not a bad side at all.

“I thought the second half we were a lot better and much improved.

“You come away from a place like this, a fantastic side we were playing against, and it’s a little bit of frustration and disappointing that we did not come away with at least a point.

“I was impressed with the second-half performance, particularly when we made the changes. (I wish) we had shown a little bit of that in the first half … we just gave (ourselves) too much to do.”