Kieran McKenna was not getting too giddy dreaming of a miracle escape from relegation after Ipswich beat Bournemouth 2-1 to pick up their first Premier League win of 2025.
Goals from Nathan Broadhead and top-scorer Liam Delap did the damage as Ipswich put a further dent in Bournemouth’s hopes of qualifying for Europe.
McKenna, whose side are still nine points adrift of 17th-placed Wolves who they play on Saturday, said: “We didn’t lose belief at any point.
“We know the odds are heavily stacked against us and have been heavily stacked against us all season.
“Wolves are the only team anywhere near us of the teams at the bottom of the league, and they’ve had good results lately.
“We know there is still a chance there but, honestly, our focus isn’t too much on talking about it.
“Our focus was on a nine-game block we had left and doing everything we can to play as well as we can and win as many of those games as we can. Beyond that, we can’t control it.
“If we beat Wolves on Saturday and then they win all their games, they’ll finish above us so we can only control what we can control and tonight is a good start.
“Every win this season is going to be and was going to be special for us, so it’s a special one again tonight.
“It is probably the performance I am really proud of, individually and as a team how we went about it.
“When you wait quite a while for a win, which can happen for us in this league, you really find out about the character of the individuals and the character of the group.
“The performance tonight shows how together everyone is and how everyone’s still working and we got our reward.”
Bournemouth midfielder Alex Scott had a shot cleared off the line seconds before Broadhead fired through the legs of Kepa Arrizabalaga to make it 1-0 in the 34th minute.
Delap’s empthatic finish into the far corner at the end of a move that started with goalkeeper Alex Palmer doubled the lead on the hour.
Evanilson’s close-range effort 23 minutes from time gave the hosts hope of a comeback but they were never at their flowing best.
Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola, whose side have now gone five league games without a win, said: “We have to keep believing in ourselves.
“We are going through a tough moment and everything feels difficult.
“We are not finding it as easy to score a goal as we were earlier in the season and they had two shots on target and scored two goals.
“At least physically today I think the team finished the game much better but we have to keep pushing.”
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