Fermanagh's McKenna on brink of Premier League with Ipswich

It has been a remarkable 18 months for McKenna since left his role with Manchester United and arrived at the Tractor Boys in 2021 with the side sitting 12th in League One.

But following their 2-1 win over Coventry on Tuesday night, Ipswich need just a point against all-but relegated Huddersfield to secure a return to the top flight since 2002.

Kieffer Moore put the Tractor Boys a goal ahead early on before Haji Wright’s second-half equaliser.

But Burgess squeezed his effort through a crowd of bodies almost immediately to put Kieran McKenna’s men three points clear of third-placed Leeds in the Championship.

Ipswich, who had failed to win their previous four outings, were ahead in the 10th minute after a free-flowing move that saw Omari Hutchinson play in Wes Burns down the right, who cut the ball back for Moore to steady himself and slam home.

Burns was causing Jay Dasilva all sorts of problems down the right and it was his sumptuous cross that was met by Nathan Broadhead, whose header was saved by the legs of Brad Collins.

Broadhead then came closest to putting Ipswich two goals to the good when he latched onto Collins’ poor pass and rattled his effort off the crossbar.

Coventry, who have played nine games in 32 days including an FA Cup semi-final against Manchester United at Wembley, showed no sign of fatigue as they had the better chances of the first half.

Burns was forced to clear Kasey Palmer’s deflected effort off the line before a miraculous save by Vaclav Hladky prevented the Sky Blues from equalising.

Ben Sheaf also gave Hladky a scare when his long-range effort went whistling past the upright.

Josh Eccles had the home faithful off their seats but the uproar did not last long as they realised his effort had nestled into the side netting.

Wright’s 16th league goal of the season pulled the Sky Blues level after half-time when he was fed by Palmer before drilling his effort under Hladky.

But Ipswich wasted no time in restoring their lead through defender Burgess, who showed a striker’s touch in the box to squeeze his effort between Collins and the near post.

Substitute George Hirst could have put the game to bed but he was met by the onrushing Collins.

Coventry rarely threatened in the final minutes as Ipswich held on to leave McKenna’s men on the brink of the Premier League for the first time in over two decades.

Ipswich could become just the fourth team to be promoted consecutively from the third division to the Premier League since 1992 after Watford, rivals Norwich and Southampton.

McKenna said: “I’ve got belief in them and a lot of belief in what we’ve done, the consistency that we’ve shown, how we prepare for games, how we concentrate throughout games and how we get our identity out there on the pitch gives us a great chance to win games.

“I’ve got a lot of belief but it’s a football match, two teams in the same division, one who were in a lower division the season before.

“Anything can happen, I don’t expect it to be smooth sailing. There’s going to be tension in the game for sure as there is when you’re fighting for things but it’ll be about doing enough of the right things to help us keep on top of that.”

Burgess’ winner in the 69th minute took Ipswich three points clear of third-placed Leeds, who host Southampton on Saturday.

McKenna added: “It’s fair to say it was an up-and-down game. We had spells where we played really well and were a big threat, spells where we defended well and spells where we invited too much pressure on ourselves.

“We probably got caught up in the state of the game, holding on to a lead and probably holding on to an outcome.

“We showed great resilience. I thought we had the chances to win the game, we had the chances to kill the game off, we had the better chances, we should have had a penalty as well.

“It was really hard-fought playing against a good team with not too much pressure, and we had to show a great range of qualities to get a win that was really sweet.”