7:00am Saturday 13th March 2010
By Matt Plummer
Roy Keane says rival manager Nigel Adkins is “talking rubbish” when he says Ipswich Town can make the play-offs.
Adkins brings his Scunthorpe side to Portman Road this afternoon (kick-off 3pm) for a vital game near the foot of the Championship.
However, Iron boss Adkins believes Town are still capable of making the top-six, if they finish strongly in their remaining 11 games.
Blues boss Keane has accused his counterpart of “mind games”, though, and said: “He’s talking absolute rubbish.
“It’s stupid talk and he’s playing a game.
“He wants all the pressure to be on us because we’re supposed to be in the play-offs. It’s nonsense.
“He should look after his own team.
“It’s mind games. It’s the usual scenario - building us up and saying we should be in the play-offs and playing his side’s chances down.
“But if he thinks I’m going to fall for that he’s mistaken. People shouldn’t underestimate my experience in football.”
Keane believes Adkins uses his “mind games” too often.
“He plays that card every week and it works for him against other clubs,” he said.
“But it won’t work against us.
“He can do it with other managers but if thinks it’s going to work with me he’s kidding himself.
“We down there with them and it’s not like he’s taking his team off to play Real Madrid.
“You can play that card too much and I think he’s played it once too often now, especially ahead of this match coming up.”
Keane believes his side face a bigger challenge this afternoon than they faced against play-off chasers Cardiff on Tuesday.
Town won that match 2-0 but Keane said: “Today will be a tougher game than Cardiff.
“Sometimes when you play teams in the top five or six they know they can afford to maybe lose two or three games and still be fairly assured of making the play-offs. They’re in a more relaxed mode.
“But when you’re playing teams down around you it’s a different challenge.
“Scunthorpe are fighting for their lives and anything we did the other night is finished with.
“We’ve shown before that we can perform against the teams near the top.
“We know what we’re capable of but we’ve got to do it against the teams down around us.”
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