Ipswich Town column: Gillingham display shows season is still alive but wins must follow

Well that’s more like it! That’s the Ipswich Town we all signed up to following the euphoria of a takeover and 19 new signings in the summer!

What superlatives can I write here that truly give credit to just how fantastic we were against Gillingham? We were everything and more on Saturday.

We had possession but not just the kind that goes nowhere and is ‘more stat-padding’ as I call it, but instead, possession with intent with Town always looking to play forwards, with pace, which saw us often camped inside Gillingham’s half of the pitch.

I wrote last week how time on the grass would have done McKenna and Pert the world of good in getting across their message and method of playing. Well, I didn’t quite expect it to work out that well!

From the first minute to the last, we just ran rampant.

Burns was playing like a man on fire. Aluko pulled the strings, and the ‘bash brothers’ Bonne and Norwood were just too much for Gillingham to handle.

Was Gillingham the worst side we have faced? Quite possibly so. However, we’ve made many poor teams look good.

In fact, this year alone I could reel off five or six sides who, despite their form or league position, were made to look better than suggested.

So as a fan, celebrate the fact that Town not only showed up but showed out, dominating a side they should have dominated.

Another pleasing element has to be the fact that it’s now six points from six for McKenna and the result Saturday was a continuation of a positive pleasing result and performance against Wycombe.

It’s a fantastic start in what is a really important time and month for the football club.

Any play-off hopes hinge, in my opinion, on getting at least 12 points from the available 15 in January, so to kick-start the month in style is pleasing.

Up next is a tough trip to Bolton; a side who beat us at home under Paul Cook. However, make no mistake, this not that Ipswich side and we should not head north with fear! We should head north with confidence and a vibrancy to our play.

We have to now keep stacking those wins to keep the play-off dream alive.