Ipswich Town defender Darnell Furlong says supporters are right to have high expectations of the team this season.
The Blues were installed as Championship promotion favourites after dropping down from the Premier League, but it’s been an up and down campaign so far.
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Last Friday night’s 2-1 defeat ended a six-game unbeaten run, but victory at Blackburn Rovers tonight would put Kieran McKenna’s men back up to fourth.
On supporters’ expectations, Furlong, who arrived in a £3.5m deal from West Brom in the summer, said: “They expect us to be up there and that’s why I wanted to come here. That was my expectation when I signed and I still have it. It’s a very long season and we’re looking forward to just taking each game as it comes.”
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He continued: “There’s no time to dwell with the games coming thick and fast. Oxford is gone already. We know the things we should have done better and what we need to put right, but there were still positives in the game and we’ll take them into Blackburn.
“The Championship is the same every year, with shock results everywhere. Our result at Oxford the other night will have shocked some people, but it happens. We went on a good run before that and now it’s about starting another good run.
“Three away games in a row – Saturday-Tuesday-Friday – is as tough as the Championship gets. But it’s what we love doing and we’ve got a great squad which is going to help.”
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Tonight is a replay of September’s abandoned game at Ewood Park. Town were down to 10 men and trailed 1-0 when the action was halted due to a waterlogged pitch, leaving Rovers with a burning sense of injustice when the EFL ruled the match would have to be replayed from scratch.
“The fact of the matter is it got too dangerous,” said Furlong. ” It was a situation where you could mistime a tackle and end up sliding for a good 10 metres, which can’t happen on a football pitch. The result was irrelevant, the performance was irrelevant, now we go back there to try and win.
“I’m sure they are going to be bang up for it with what happened in the last game, but we’re up for it too. Hopefully we’ll go there and get the result.”
