Ipswich Town: Kieran McKenna on why Wrexham defeat could be pivotal - European Football

The Town boss made ten changes to his side for the 1-0 defeat at the Racecourse Ground, which saw a poor performance turned in by those on the pitch.

Several stars were played in unfamiliar roles – Sindre Walle Egeli played as the No.10, Chuba Akpom started on the left wing and Elkan Baggott filled in at left back.

And McKenna said after the game that those minutes, and experimental roles for some, could well pay dividends going forward as Town try to win promotion back to the Premier League at the first time of asking.

Ipswich Town turned in a poor performance in Wrexham (Image: Ross Halls)

“It’s clear that we had two goals coming into tonight,” the Town boss stressed. “We wanted to go through in the cup and we tried right to the last second to do that.

“A big priority also had to be getting minutes into players who needed it. It was clear with the schedule that we have and the games that we have to fit in that we’re going to need the squad and we need players match fit and ready to go.

“We had to use tonight for that, to get some players ready and to protect some other players.

“Within those players who needed the minutes, we also used the opportunity to try some people in some different roles because it could be pivotal for us in the 16 league games we have remaining.

“You don’t quite know in which game or which moment it might be but that experience of a different relationship or a different position or a different partnership could be pivotal for us.”

Sindre Walle Egeli played as the 10 on Friday (Image: Ross Halls)

McKenna, whose charges now return to Wrexham for a Championship clash this Saturday, concluded: “We looked at some of those things tonight.

“There were some positives in there, but when you have a lot of people in a team either getting first minutes for a while or a first start for a while or playing in different partnerships, not everything is going to be smooth.”