Ipswich Town winger Wes Burns says manager Kieran McKenna will leave no stone unturned as the Blues prepare to face Bristol Rovers in the third round of the FA Cup this weekend.
Town winger Wes Burns says manager Kieran McKenna will leave no stone unturned as the Blues prepare to face Bristol Rovers in the third round of the FA Cup this weekend.
The Gas will travel to Portman Road on Sunday with the League One side aiming to cause an upset, while a Town victory will see them into the fourth round of the competition for a third consecutive season.
A break from Premier League action comes following a period of four matches in 16 days over the Christmas and New Year period, but opposition planning has been as focused as ever ahead of the visit of Iñigo Calderón’s side in the world’s oldest football competition.
Asked if McKenna has been even more thorough with his preparation this week, Burns said: “Even more so. He even said to us today we’re looking back at Bristol Rovers and two seasons ago that wasus, a League One team playing really good football.
“They’ve got a new manager and a new style of play so there’s not really too much footage that we can watch.
“The boss is thorough on everything, he’ll find clips from anywhere to show us and prep us properly.
“The prep has been exactly the same as if we were playing anyone in the Prem.”
Burns is no stranger to football in Bristol having come through the academy of Rovers’ rivals Bristol City, making a total of 54 appearances for the Robins.
Despite his connections to Ashton Gate, Burns does not feel there is more riding on this game for himself personally, more so emphasising the chance that the Blues have to progress to the next round.
“I left Bristol City so many years ago and I’ve played against Bristol Rovers a couple of times in seasons gone by,” he said.
“They’ve never been the nicest towards me but that’s football, I’ll expect nothing less at the weekend to be honest.
“I wouldn’t say there’s anything more on the game personally, I left Bristol City nearly ten years ago now. For me it’s just another game that we need to win.
“They’re always good for the cup ties to be at home with the familiarity of playing the pitch, the fans and things like that. It’s definitely a chance for us to progress into the next round, for sure.”
Burns and his Blues teammates will not need reminding of how they exited the FA Cup last season, with sixth-tier Maidstone United stunning Portman Road to make one of the greatest upsets in the competition’s history.
“They can happen,” the Wales international reflected. “They do say it’s the magic of the FA Cup and it was definitely that for Maidstone last year. We’re going to try and make amends this year and put an FA Cup run together.”
Town can be buoyed by their recent league form, coming into this weekend’s cup tie off the back of a string of positive performances and results, notably claiming four points from their last two matches against Chelsea and Fulham.
“Results have been good,” Burns said. “We’re still picking up points which is the main aim in the league. Especially for a newly-promoted side like ourselves, you have to make sure that points tally keeps ticking over one way or another.
“Recently we look more solid as a team and harder to beat, we’re not conceding as many goals or chances against which is a massive thing for us.
“We know if we’re in the game come 60/70/80 minutes, we’ve got the running power, the fitness and the quality on the front line to go and hurt teams.”
The 2-0 victory over Chelsea was a particular highlight, a result that saw the Blues earn their first top flight victory at Portman Road in more than 22 years.
“Any win this season is going to go down in the memory bank for myself,” Burns said. “I’m 30 now and I may not have many years left in football, so for me any win or point we pick up this year and even playing at grounds I’ve never played at are all memories.
“All of them this year are crazy special. We often remind ourselves in the meeting rooms to keep enjoying the journey and enjoying every challenge. We’ve gone from playing League One teams like Morecambe, Fleetwood, Accrington and now we’re going away to Spurs and Arsenal. You have to pinch yourself sometimes.
“Two years ago we’re playing in League One and now we’re picking up a 2-0 home win against Chelsea on a Monday night, it was a surreal one. It was definitely one of the best results I’ve had.”
McKenna’s men could have won both games against west London opposition had it not been for
Raul Jimenez’s stoppage-time penalty at Craven Cottage, the third spot kick in the game that denied the Blues all three points in their first game of 2025.
Asked whether it felt like a blow, Burns said: “It can do in hindsight as we were ahead twice in the game. But it’s small margins in football these days and especially at Premier League level, you can’t afford to drop your concentration for a second.
“We’ve gone back over it as a group and there’s things that we can do as a team to prevent both penalty decisions. It’s not just the individual actions that lead to the penalties, it’s what we can do to help the team not be in that scenario.
“It can feel like two points dropped, but Fulham are a really good team and are on a good run of form, especially at home and they don’t give up too many chances.
“For us to be in the scenario where we were able to possibly take three points was a big confidence boost for us.”
Another one of Town’s positive results over the last month came at Wolverhampton Wanderers, where Jack Taylor’s dramatic last-gasp header earned the Blues a 2-1 victory at Molineux.
That goal came from a corner kick, and Burns knows that dead ball situations are going to be so important in determining the outcome of some of the tight affairs this season.
He said: “For us, set pieces are ones we’ve taken big pride in this year. We know they’re great opportunities to get shots on goal, headed chances on goal and score goals.
“Our detail on set pieces this year has been massive because we know they’re big opportunities for us. Even going back to last year and the League One year, they’re such big opportunities to score goals and keep the scoreboard ticking over.
“The scenes on the sidelines at Wolves was a very good one, it reminded me of [Jeremy] Sarmiento against Southampton.”
Just a week after the victory in the West Midlands, though, was a dampening 4-0 home defeat to Newcastle United. The Magpies ran riot at Portman Road, particularly in the first half where they were able to capitalise on some of the Blues’ costly errors.
Reflecting on the disappointment of that day, Burns added: “With the Newcastle game the goals we conceded weren’t great. We were 1-0 down after 30 seconds so it’s never a great way to start a game of football, from there we’re chasing the game throughout.
“We’re the home team trying to force the game, push the game and try and get back into it. They’re a brilliant team at soaking up pressure and hitting you on the counter and they pretty much did that to us all game. They were probably good credit for their goals to be honest.
“It probably was a little bit of a reality check in terms of needing to be solid and stay in games a lot longer, we can’t give teams a leg up, especially in this league. Last season and in seasons gone by, we’ve probably been able to take a punch on the chin and then come back and fight and get three points, but it’s a lot harder this year.”
