Only the “phenomenal achievement” could top Leeds United’s Championship points tally

Ipswich Town captain Sam Morsy insists Leeds United have pushed his side all the way in this season’s thrilling Championship promotion race – and admitted the Whites’ final total of 90 points would “normally see them ” promote.

While Kieran McKenna’s side are already looking forward to next season in the Premier League, Daniel Farke and Co have the play-offs to negotiate if they want to join them in the top flight. They will face Ipswich’s East Anglian rivals Norwich City in a two-legged semi-final before playing the winners of Southampton v West Bromwich Albion.

While Leeds will be disappointed with the way their season ended, picking up 90 points across the entire campaign is something they would normally celebrate. But such was the intense nature of this year’s contest – Leicester, Ipswich and Leeds all broke the 90-point mark – that it wasn’t enough.

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This is a factor that Morsy recognizes and makes their achievement all the sweeter.

“It’s an incredible moment,” Morsy told the East Anglian Daily Times. “It’s not easy at all, we’ve been competing against some fantastic teams all season – Leicester, Leeds, Southampton – great teams with great managers and top players with experience.

“To come second in that group and get promoted is a phenomenal achievement and it makes it even sweeter that those teams below us have been so good and pushed us all season.

“You look at Leeds – normally 90 points would do that, but not this season. We managed to get 96, which is a very good number of points and we did it.”

Leeds went into the final game of the season knowing they had to beat Southampton and hoping Ipswich lost to Huddersfield Town. As it was, Farke’s men slipped to a 2-1 defeat, but Ipswich’s 2-0 win made that irrelevant.

“We knew a point would do it, but we wanted to approach the game and try to get a win,” Morsy added. “It was about staying calm – we knew the adrenaline would be there – but we stuck to the plan and won 2-0, it should have been more. We conceded very little too, so it’s a good day.”