Kieran McKenna believes Ipswich showed their promotion mettle in win at Charlton

Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna felt his side showed the character needed to win promotion after after Jaden Philogene’s penalty sank Charlton 2-1 and fired them back up to second.

The Tractor Boys are back above Millwall on goal difference and with a game in hand, as they close in on a return to the Premier League a year after they were relegated.

In the first of three pivotal away games in six days, they started badly, falling behind to a Greg Docherty goal inside the first minute.

But they hit back through Darnell Furlong and a Philogene penalty to keep their automatic promotion hopes firmly in their own hands.

“It’s a big win, I really like how we won,” said McKenna. “Conceding a goal that early was a big blow.

“To have that and then we couldn’t get a foothold in the game, so to come back from that and show belief, to score a really good goal in the first half and come out in the second half really strong was a good show of character from the group.

“To do that away from home, it was a good night to do it. Now there’s every chance we have to show it again if we are going to be successful.”

Charlton are still not mathematically safe from relegation but frustrated manager Nathan Jones made eight changes to his side from the 1-1 draw at Sheffield Wednesday, their sixth game without a win.

The move looked to have paid off instantly as Docherty fired the hosts into a shock lead after only 42 seconds.

Ben Johnson’s mistake allowed Tyreece Campbell to burst down the right and when his angled drive was palmed away by Christian Walton the ball fell to the Addicks skipper who thumped it into an unguarded net.

The equaliser came after 36 minutes when Azor Matusiwa found Furlong 20 yards out and the full-back lashed his shot beyond Kaminski into the far corner.

It was a timely first goal for Ipswich for the 30-year-old, who moved to Suffolk from West Brom last summer.

Furnell also played a major role in Ipswich’s second, 12 minutes after half-time, when he was sent tumbling in the area by Macaulay Gillesphey.

Philogene’s spot-kick was actually pretty tame but it rolled under the body of the diving Kaminski and squirmed into the net.

Defeat saw Charlton slip to 21st, still needing a point to guarantee their safety.

Jones said: “I thought the overall performance was good. We started brilliantly.

“We gave a cheap foul away for the penalty and you can’t afford to do that, and that’s what’s costing us at the minute. We need to do the basics better and we need one more big performance.”