Ipswich Town players celebrate ‘special’ win against Hull City with dressing room song with Ed Sheeran, Kieran McKenna reveals

Kieran McKenna revealed how his Ipswich Town players capped off a ‘special performance’ on the pitch against Hull City – with a 3-0 win taking them back to the top of the Championship – by enjoying a dressing room celebratory sing-a-long with superstar sponsor Ed Sheeran.

Due to his other commitments, it was the first time the Framlingham-based singer-songwriter had been able to attend a game since his boyhood club were promoted back to the Sky Bet Championship.

And he got to play his own part in enjoying the post-match scenes by meeting the squad in the dressing room where they sang along to his 2018 hit ‘Perfect’.

Put to him that, following goals from Wes Burns (5’), Conor Chaplin (41’) and Marcus Harness (64’),it must have been a night that the number 17 in the squad must have enjoyed, McKenna said: “He came down in the dressing room tonight which was nice.

“The players haven’t met him yet. He has been down to some games here but he’s, of course, so busy doing marvellous things.

“It was great for him to be here tonight with a really good performance.

“It was lovely for him to be able to come down to the dressing room after the game and meet the players.

“They had a bit of a sing-song together and it was a moment for everyone to enjoy, players and staff.

“He’s an important part of the football club and we really appreciate his support. It was great to have him here tonight.”

Asked to give his thoughts on another memorable night, McKenna had earlier said: “I think it was just that. I keep saying it, ‘enjoy the moments’ and I thought it was a special performance.

“Before the game we spoke about feeling we had one in us. We were nine games in before tonight, we’re fit and I think we’re learning game by game.

“It was our first game home game back in the Championship as a night game, so I felt like it had the feeling of a really good performance in us and I thought we delivered that.

“I like so many things about us. Our work on the ball, of course, to play through the pitch against a really good team.

“Our work against the ball with our discipline, organisation, the aggression of our pressing, our humility to defend in a block whenever we needed to, the performance of the starters and the impact of the subs and the atmosphere in the crowd.

“It was a night to enjoy and again, it’s only one night, it’s one game, it’s three points but it doesn’t take away the fact that everyone associated with the club should enjoy tonight and maybe tomorrow before we start to think about another big game on Saturday.”

The Blues bost Ryan Lowe’s Preston, who lie third in the table, with the news that midfielder Lee Evans will definitely not be involved in the squad with McKenna revealing he is set to undergo surgery on his knee.

“Lee Evans has unfortunately had an MCL injury so he’s going to have surgery tomorrow.

“I’m very disappointed for him. For the football club he’s a great player and person but at the same time, having spoken to him, hopefully he can now resolve things.

“He’s had a couple of issues with that knee and not had a surgical repair yet so he’s going to have that which will leave him out for quite a while. But all being well it should hopefully give him a knee in really, really good condition that will give him a chance now to have a good run at his career again because he’s been really unlucky with it.

“We’re disappointed about that for us and for Lee but I’m sure he’ll throw himself into the recovery and come back strong again.”

Meanwhile, he confirmed Cameron Burgess’ absence from the squad was not due to any injury.

“Cameron’s fine, we just wanted to put George (Edmunson) in tonight.

“We thought he’s been training really well, he’s played really well in the cup competitions.

“We thought his qualities tonight against Liam Delap would be really important. There’s not many more powerful runners than George against one of the most power runners in the league and we thought some of their pressing angles would possibly open up some passes for him as well with the right-footer.

“Cameron’s been excellent so it was just a selection tonight.

“We’re not tending to put a centre-half on the bench very often so they all understand that’s the plan.”