Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna admits squad understands significance of East Anglian derby with Norwich City

Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna stated the squad understand the significance of the East Anglian derby and stressed there is no doubt the players will represent the club as well as they can on Saturday at Carrow Road (12.30pm).

The Blues head to their local rivals sitting top of the Sky Bet Championship table and hoping to put the pressure on the teams around them with a win against David Wagner’s outfit – who are looking for a victory to remain in the play-off places.

“The boys all live local, a lot of them live in the town and a lot of them have links in the area, in the case of the boys who come through the academy, so there’s no getting away that a game like this has extra significance around it,” said McKenna.

“We know for supporters it would be a massive fixture to win and like I said, I really trust every player in that dressing room understands the significance of that.

“In games where there has been that external pressure, they’ve stepped up really well time and again.

“I’m in the area, I understand it and the players do as well, and we feel it. We’ll try our very, very best for those supporters on Saturday.

“Every player, every staff member and I’d imagine every manager who has come to this football club realised the size of this football club, it’s place within the Suffolk community, a one-county club, and a big and beautiful county where Ipswich Town is one of the jewels at the centre at that.

“A club with great history, great tradition and one we’re all proud to represent.”

After the 2-2 draw between the two sides at Portman Road in December, Town will hope this weekend will see their near 15-year wait for a win against the Canaries come to an end.

And the last time Ipswich were victorious at Carrow Road was on February 5, 2006 by a 2-1 scoreline under Joe Royle.

Despite Town’s long search for a victory against their arch rivals, McKenna admitted the record against the Canaries will not be a major part of his team talk.

“Ipswich haven’t beaten Norwich in quite a few years, but at the same time Norwich haven’t beaten Ipswich for five years. We were in different divisions,” said the Blues boss.

“It’s not like this group have been losing two games a season to them. It’s not like any recent group in Ipswich times have lost to Norwich either.

“We know the importance of the fixture, it’s a massive one for the supporters and they’d love to get the win.”