Kieran McKenna was right to take Ipswich Town FA Cup gamble ahead of Sheffield Wednesday fixture: Opinion | OneFootball

Up until a few weeks ago, Ipswich Town were one of three sides keeping pace with one another in the race for promotion in League One.

However, in recent weeks, Kieran McKenna’s side appear to have hit a stumbling block.

Indeed, the Tractor Boys, seemingly out of nowhere, have seen their form dry up, winning just one of their last six league matches under McKenna.

That has, for their sake, unfortunately seen them slip to third in the League One standings, with both Plymouth and Sheffield Wednesday holding a six point advantage over them.

In fact, Wednesday also have a game in hand, meaning their lead could be extended to nine when that is played out.

Perhaps that is why, then, with Burnley coming up in the FA Cup in midweek, and Sheffield Wednesday coming up in the league this Saturday, Kieran McKenna made it clear what his priorities were.

“I think we all know that Sheffield Wednesday is the biggest game of the week,” McKenna told BBC Radio Suffolk, via BBC Sport.

“But, on the other hand, we need to be competitive as a squad [against Burnley]. We’ve worked hard to get to that point and we need to make sure we represent ourselves with pride.

“We need to find the right balance to do that while making sure we have a good team ready for Saturday.

“Tuesday is a really tough game and we need to go there with a resilience and the right mindset to be in any way competitive in the game.”

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In the end, McKenna ended up fielding a hugely rotated side for the Clarets cup clash, making nine changes from the club’s draw with Cambridge last Saturday.

In my opinion, though, risking the club’s FA Cup status and placing the priority on Saturday’s fixture was the right thing to do, for a number of reasons.

Firstly, realistically, Ipswich Town are probably not going to win the FA Cup.

Even the most optimistic of Tractor Boys’ supporters will admit that, and, as much as the journey and the ride through the rounds is sometimes just as enjoyable from a fans perspective, the club clearly have bigger, more realistic priorities this year.

That is of course promotion from League One, and given that if they lose on Saturday they are potentially facing a 12 point gap to Sheffield Wednesday (if the Owls were to win their game in hand), placing that fixture above any other is a no-brainer.

Incidentally, Sheffield Wednesday also happened to be playing in an FA Cup fourth round replay last night away at Fleetwood in which they also made several changes from what you would consider their ‘strongest’ XI, meaning had McKenna not done so, his players would be facing a side much more refreshed from themselves.

All things considered, then, I truly believe that Kieran McKenna, facing a potential 12 point gap to the league leaders if they are defeated on Saturday, made the right call in terms of risking the club’s FA Cup status last night.

Although they are now out, realistically, it was extremely unlikely they were ever going to win the competition, meaning the club’s full focus can now be placed firmly on League One and trying to get into the top two.

Having rested key players last night, they should be raring to go at Portman Road on Saturday afternoon.