Ipswich Town manager Gary O’Neil felt his side’s 3-1 Carabao Cup victory over League One Leicester City was the result of a ‘humble, honest, hard-working performance’.
Marcelino Nunez grabbed all the headlines with the third goal from inside the centre circle to seal the victory, having earlier put Town back in front with a strike from the edge of the area, with Sindre Walle Egeli having given the Blues the lead before Olabade Aluko levelled for the visitors.
“As I expected, there were going to be tough moments because of how Leicester and Russell Martin go about it,” O’Neil said.
Ipswich Town manager Gary O'Neil. Picture: Phil Ham
Ipswich Town manager Gary O'Neil. Picture: Phil Ham
“It feels tough because they’re sort of obsessive in what they do and how they try and keep the ball.
“I didn’t feel we were (under) a massive threat, but you have to suffer those moments and try and capitalise. And I thought we did well.
“I thought we were a threat, we should have punished them more, probably. Had some really wide open chances that we weren’t able to take.
“But a good win. To make that many changes, to survive a tough test at home three or four days after a big day with a lot of emotion. To come and back it up three days later in a tricky tie, I’m really pleased with the boys.”
Regarding Nunez’s goals, he added: “Excellent strikes. He’d recovered well (from Saturday’s 2-1 victory over Sunderland), him and Dara (O’Shea), so they were able to go again, which was good.
“Some continuity in the team with all the other changes I thought was important. They were both excellent again.
“It was a good performance. We’ll have games where we have a bit more control than that, probably, but a real humble, honest, hard-working performance, accepting that that’s what Leicester do, this is what they’re going to be, no problem, we’ll be patient, we’ll pick our moments, we’ll stay aggressive, and we’ll try and capitalise.
“The only negatives, I suppose, were a really bad goal to concede, rubbish. And we should have scored more, some wide open chances that we had.
“But pleased, pleased with the group. Like I’ve said, I trust them all, and they didn’t let me down tonight to get us through a tricky tie, to get us into the next round of the cup.
“To have won back-to-back matches this early in the season is a really good start while we’re still building and still learning. Pleased, and now some bigger tests are coming fairly quickly round the corner.”