Leeds United defender Pascal Struijk has warned Ipswich Town that the Championship is a marathon and not a sprint, as the Whites look to cut down the Tractor Boys’ lead in the automatic promotion spots.
The Yorkshire giants and Ipswich are set to go head-to-head in a big Championship game at Elland Road on Saturday.
Ipswich have been flying since getting promoted to the second tier of English football and are sitting second with a ten-point lead over Leeds, who are just below them.
Leeds are facing an uphill task if they are to get automatic promotion this season and Struijk conceded that Ipswich have done brilliantly to put themselves in such a position.
However, the Leeds defender stressed that the season is still very long and his team have a good opportunity to claw themselves back into the reckoning in the second half of the campaign.
Struijk said on LUTV: “[It will be] a really exciting game.
“They have done really well to be in the position where they are, same for Leicester.
“But the season is still really long and we still have 20-something games to go so it’s a marathon, not a sprint.
“We can hopefully take all the points we have been taking and a little bit more in the second half of the season.
“Hopefully, we will come out on top.”
Leeds did beat Ipswich Town earlier in the season at Portman Road and will hope to do the double at Elland Road.
