Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna admits he is keen to remained grounded after his sides registered an emphatic 4-0 away win at Gillingham on Saturday. 

McKenna became the first Ipswich manager since Roy Keane to win their first two games in charge after following up a 1-0 win over Wycombe during the festive period with this dominant win at Priestfield.

James Norwood, Wes Burns and Macauley Bonne all scored in opening 23 minutes before Conor Chaplin scored the fourth in the 85th minute via a penalty.

Despite the two wins, McKenna told East Anglian Daily Times that there's still plenty of work ahead: "But we can't look at it like that as a group. We're a long way off in terms of points and wins on the board.

"We've only had a couple of good results, so it's much too early to get ahead of ourselves and think about where we might finish in the league.

"The big focus is just on trying to improve performances in training and in games. If we do that then we'll get wins and if we get wins then we'll see where we're at in a couple of months time."

But McKenna did praise his side after a dominant display, as he added: “It’s a really pleasing performance. First of all I thought our intensity, our aggression and our organisation off the ball was really, really good. That leads to another clean sheet, which is a big positive.

“And yeah, the quality of our football right through the game was a really high level. Obviously we’ve scored three fantastic goals."

Following that win over Gillingham, Ipswich are now tenth in the Championship table, eight points adrift of the play-off places.

The Tractor Boys are next in action on Saturday afternoon, when they make the long trip to the University of Bolton Stadium, to face out of form Bolton Wanderers.

The Verdict

Ipswich have been superb under McKenna so far but he's right to curb expectations.

There's a long way to go in the season and while Ipswich boast one of the best squads in the league, sustaining the performances and form is the main aim for McKenna.

They're a long way off where they should be, but results and performances like this will send a message to those above them in the table that they're ready to compete, with plenty of time left in the season for them to overhaul that deficit to the top six.