Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna says his players have to try and restore Portman Road’s fortress status ‘one battle at a time’.
The Blues’ home record read W16 D6 L1 when they secured Championship promotion in 2023/24, but just one victory on Suffolk soil was subsequently secured during a Premier League relegation campaign.
Having started this season with home draws against Southampton and Derby, Town finally registered their first home league win of the calendar year when thrashing Sheffield United 5-0 a fortnight ago under the Friday night lights.
Speaking ahead of tomorrow’s visit of Portsmouth, McKenna said: “We want to back up the Sheffield United game and bring some of the same things from that performance. But what’s also really important is that we keep the clarity of what that looks like.
“The home ‘fortress’ that we built last time in the Championship wasn’t from 5-0 wins every week. We’ve gone through the home results we had that season with the boys just to remind them how competitive this division is – 1-0, 2-1, 1-0, 3-2, 4-3, 1-0, 2-1.
“We’re really excited to get back to Portman Road and we’re going to go and give the game and the performance everything that we’ve got. But we also know we’re facing a really tough opponent and that it’s not going to be an easy game. They’re going to do everything they can to stop us and try and impose their threats.
“If we want to build a good home record this year, it’s going to come from one battle at a time, one game at a time, giving everything we’ve got to try and overcome a really difficult opponent every week and then having the durability to try and do that week after week.
“We’ve taken one step towards that in the last home game, but it’s just one step and this is a new battle.”
Fresh from League One promotion, Portsmouth finished 16th last season. They got off to a solid start in 2025/26, taking eight points from their first five games, but come into this match off the back of a 2-0 home loss to Sheffield Wednesday and with several key injuries.
“I would imagine, up until last weekend, they would have been really, really positive,” said McKenna. “They had some good early results, hadn’t conceded many goals, were the better team in a big derby away from home (drawing 0-0 at Southampton) and have been really solid.
“They’ll be a little bit disappointed with last week, of course, and are missing a couple of important players. But they’re a really competitive, really strong, well-organised, well-coached team with good individual quality and we’re expecting another tough game.
“They’re a club that have a really good fan base, a good atmosphere and a good history. They’re always an enjoyable club to compete against.”
It’s a big week. Town travel to Bristol City next Tuesday night, then host Norwich City in an eagerly-anticipated East Anglian derby next Sunday.
“The first priority, of course, is trying to get a performance and a result on Saturday,” said McKenna.
“But when we get into these three-game weeks some different factors come in. Which players can play back-to-back? For some, it might be too early in the season for that, they might not have built up that robustness yet, or there might be medical issues.
“Then, of course, if players can only play one game then you have to try and look at the opposition and consider who might be more suitable for different games.
“We’ve got 41 league games left and we’re going into our first three-game week now. Depending on when the Blackburn game is rearranged, we’re looking at having one or two clear training weeks from after the next international break until the Portsmouth away game on January 4th.
“The whole squad’s going to be needed. Different people are going to have to step up at different times. The busy schedule is something that we enjoyed here previously and we’ll look to tackle it head on again.”
