‘We wanted to, but…’ – Disappointed Kieran McKenna explains the Reason behind the TERRIBLE Mistake he made that COST Ipswich Town’s 2-1 defeat to Wolves

Ipswich Town’s manager Kieran McKenna has shed light on his decision to delay substitutions during the team’s 2-1 loss to Wolves at home this afternoon.

Marking a first for the season, the Blues manager opted to field the same starting lineup that secured a 2-1 victory against Bournemouth on Wednesday night.

Ipswich held a 1-0 lead at halftime thanks to a clinical finish from Liam Delap, but their performance dipped noticeably in the second half.

McKenna made his first change in the 65th minute, bringing on Jack Taylor for Nathan Broadhead, but Wolves leveled the score through Pablo Sarabia in the 72nd minute.

It wasn’t until the 81st minute that McKenna executed a quadruple substitution, introducing Leif Davis, Conor Chaplin, Jaden Philogene, and George Hirst in place of Conor Townsend, Axel Tuanzebe, Jens Cajuste, and Liam Delap.

Wolves soon capitalized, with Jorgen Strand Larsen scoring the decisive goal, leaving Ipswich facing the looming threat of Premier League relegation with only seven matches remaining.

Addressing his choice to stick with an unchanged starting XI, McKenna stated: “The players were keen to go again and I think the set-up was well suited to the challenges that Wolves were going to bring.

“We competed really well in the first half, but we weren’t able to maintain our energy levels, which is to be expected after the effort that the players into the game on Wednesday night (2-1 win at Bournemouth) and some of the physical challenges that we have in the squad at the moment.”

When questioned about the timing of his substitutions, particularly the late flurry of changes, he elaborated: “Conor Townsend had a hamstring issue, so he had to come off.

“We wanted to get Jaden, Conor and Hirsty on as three fresh attacking players on the pitch, but we didn’t feel we could do it too early because Wolves were a threat throughout the game and the second half. They’re a really, really big team, so set plays were a big issue.

“We got to the 80th minute and we knew a draw definitely wasn’t going to be a result that we wouldn’t be happy with. We tried to go with everything to get the win but we weren’t able to turn the momentum around and they got the second goal.”