Town boss Kieran McKenna said he loved the game, the performance and the result after the Blues won 1-0 at Sheffield Wednesday.

Conor Chaplin netted the game’s only goal just before half-time as the third-placed Blues made it five wins out of six in the Championship, including all three away from home.

The win, Kieran McKenna's 50th as a manager in 87 games in just 21 months, stretched Town's unbeaten league away run to a new club record of 12 going back to January.

Asked what stood out for him, McKenna said: “It’s maybe hard to pick one thing. I loved the game, the performance and, of course, the result.

“I thought this was a big one for us today in the season, not having managed to win here in the last couple of visits and, of course, it’s a barometer for us as a team because we’ve had tight games with them in the last couple of years.

“It was a big game for us. I thought it was an excellent performance in the first half. Coming back from international duty, I thought we imposed ourselves on the game, dominated the game, carved through their pressure a few times, created some big opportunities, pressed well, didn’t give them anything. I thought it was an excellent performance.

“We got the goal just before half-time but we probably deserved a bit more than that, and the same at the start of the second half. I thought probably on 65 minutes we should have been 1-0 or 3-0 up.

“That first period, that large chunk of the game was really, really pleasing but on the other hand the last 20 minutes was really pleasing as well because when you don’t get the second goal and we were also a little bit limited with the substitutions because we had to make an early stoppage and use one, you then have to see the game out in the different way and defend with organisation and resilience, dig in and take care of the details and defend your set plays.

“And to do that for the last part of the game against Sheffield Wednesday and this crowd and the wind going into the end that we were defending, that’s a terrific thing for the boys to go through. Probably two main different bits of the game but both to really enjoy.”

Town could well have won more convincingly having created plenty of other chances in both halves.

“I thought we had a couple of absolutely picture perfect moves for us and what we like to do going through the pitch quickly and getting through teams and behind team and arriving in goalscoring positions,” he recalled.

“It was just great that we got the goal just before half-time because I think to go in at 0-0 would have been really disappointing with some of the opportunities and positions that we got in. I think there was lots to enjoy about the performance on and off the ball.”

Despite being just the one goal in front, the Blues never looked under any serious threat in the latter stages.

“We gave away very little and that shows good growth as a team because last year we were here and 2-0 up and we didn’t manage to manage the game right and gave away a goal from a set play,” McKenna continued.

“I think we’ve learned a lot over the last 12 months about that phase of the game and how to manage games and the discipline required, the details required, how to defend our final third without sagging into the box too much. We did that really well and that’s another area that shows the growth in the players.”

Does he see it as a significant step forward to beat Wednesday given the two 2-2 draws last season and 1-0 defeat at Hillsborough the previous season?

“I think so,” the Blues manager reflected. “It doesn’t mean anything going forward in the season but in isolation I think I lost one of my first games here, we played them last year and they were two really even games and probably the first half it didn’t look like two teams which were competing so evenly and so tightly last year.

“I think it’s a nice reference for the boys to feel their improvement out there on the pitch against some really good players that they’ve battled against many years some of them. That’s a nice reference for us.

“But you can never read everything into these things. Tuesday’s a new game, Saturday’s a new game after that. But in isolation it was really big for us to come here and win.”

Regarding goalscorer Chaplin and his hunger for goals, the forward having netted his third of the season to draw level with Nathan Broadhead and Freddie Ladapo as this season’s joint-top scorers, McKenna added: “A hunger not just for goals, goals first and foremost, but I’ve said it so often, he’s an absolute leader in our group.

“He drives our culture, he drives standards every day, he trains fantastically, he loves football, he loves his teammates, he loves pressing, he loves hard work, he’s absolutely all in.

“He’s a big person for us and a big player for us and he’s got a wonderful knack of being in good positions in the box and finishing them when he does get his chances. He’s doing really well.”

The goal appeared to strike someone else on the way through, probably one of a number of Owls players attempting to keep it out but perhaps Ladapo.

However, McKenna says he’s not aware anything along those lines:“Somebody else has just asked me, I’ve not heard any claims to that. I’m assuming it’s Conor’s for now but I haven’t seen anything close up.”

The one negative was the Blues losing Leif Davis to an ankle injury just before the break.

“I haven’t had any medical report or anything,” McKenna added. “He’s landed on his ankle, twisted it and got stood on at the same time, which usually isn’t a great mixture. But he’s in a boot, so it will be a case of seeing how it is over the next 24 hours or so.”

Brandon Williams came on as Davis’s replacement and impressed his manager: “He did well. Not easy coming in, Leif was excellent in the first half, set up the goal.

“We can’t make a direct comparison, they’re a different style of left-back, so they have to play the role within our structure in their own ways.

“I thought he did really, really well, credit to him. Most of this football and all his training really for us has been at right-back as well, so going onto the left side and adjusting to that quickly in the game and showing his defensive quality and his ability to carry the ball through the pitch, it’ll be a great one for him embedding into the group.”

Will the on-loan Manchester United man be OK to start at Southampton on Tuesday given his lack of time on the pitch?

“Let’s see,” McKenna said. “He’s a fit boy but he hasn’t played very often. We’re going to have to look at a quite a few. It was tricky really in the second half because with the early substitution in the first half you lose one of your stoppages.

“Wes [Burns] needed to come off because he was feeling really, really tight in his hamstring on 70 minutes or whatever it was.

“At that stage, the rest of the team were really comfortable in their roles, so we felt the right decision was to use our last substitution, but it limited us to three subs in the game, so it meant that more players than we wanted had to play the 90-plus minutes and see the game out. We’ll have to assess how everyone is for Tuesday.”

Photo: TWTD

Suffolkboy added 19:04 - Sep 16 Calm and col ; sensible and objective he has focused on the essence of preserving the one goal lead — and rightly so ! The team are pleasingly learning ,and progressing — but life would be a great deal more comfortable were we able to establish a clearer margin ,as much of our play demonstrates is possible ! Well done ,everyone ; THREE more hard earned pints ! COYB
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Woolfenthen added 19:12 - Sep 16 Terrific performance, only gripe was that we didn't score more goals, hopefully that will come as the season progresses
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eddiespearitt03 added 20:38 - Sep 16 Not the most exciting game but 3 points is always welcome Sad to say, Sheffield Wednesday offered very little to make it more of an entertaining and open game.
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arc added 20:54 - Sep 16 Come home, Greg Leigh! (And get well soon, Leif!)
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GrasmereBlue added 21:55 - Sep 16 Sometimes you just need to graft it out. Three points, brilliant!!
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SpiritOfJohn added 07:10 - Sep 17 I enjoyed reading what Super Kieran McKenna had to say about yesterday's game and on Conor Chaplin's contributions on and off the pitch. You know things are going extremely well when there are less than 50 comments from TWTD readers on a match report. That's a good measure of our successful start to the season.
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Linkboy13 added 14:30 - Sep 17 Our games against Southampton have a history of producing goals and i can see nothing changing on Tuesday. In the past we've had problems taking points off the big clubs. I see Leeds hammered Millwall today they might might take some stopping if they get on a run although they were very fortunate to beat us courtesy of defensive errors. Sometimes it's all about playing teams at the right time so let's hope Southampton dont click on Tuesday COYB.

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