Town defender Cédric Kipré has described teammate Jaden Philogene as ‘like a little brother’ after the duo netted in the 3-1 victory over Sheffield Wednesday.

Philogene slammed home beyond Pierce Charles to double Town’s advantage during the second half, with all eight of his strikes this campaign coming at Portman Road.

Kipré, who opened the scoring in the first half, is delighted with Philogene’s form which has lifted the forward to the top of the Blues’ scoring charts this season.

“He’s like my little brother, you know,” he said. “We get on very well, we’ve played together before [at Cardiff City].

“When I see him play like this, I'm very happy. He nearly scored another top goal today again. I’m happy with him, I just hope he keeps going for us.”

Three points lifted Town to third in the Championship table, with the gap to the top two cut to five points following Middlesbrough’s defeat at Bristol City.

It also marked a third straight win at home for the Blues against the rock-bottom Owls, who have still lost just once on their own turf at the halfway point in the season.

“Massive,” he said. “We needed to bounce back from the last game, we needed a response and we did it well today.

“We’re quite strong at home. We enjoy playing in front of our own fans, they give us a massive boost as well which is important. We enjoy playing here.

“There’s a lot of pressure in games like this because they’re not in a good position in the table. I think those types of games are even more difficult. People expect you to win, but in reality, it’s a tougher game than people expect.

“It was important to score the third goal. When it’s 2-1 near the end, you get a bit stressed for the fans also. The third goal was a bit of a relief.”

Kipré’s second goal of the season came after 33 minutes, when the defender headed into the net from a corner to settle early nerves after a tense start to the contest.

The Reims loanee discussed the importance of set pieces, in a defensive sense as much as in an attacking one.

He said: “Both are very important in the Championship. I would say two, three, four times a week we work on them. It’s a very important part of the game and I’m happy with today’s goal.

“Today they’ve been very good. We work a lot on it, the takers work on it. On a day like this when things work out, it’s beautiful.

“Happy happy happy. We work a lot on set pieces so credit to Mark, to Micky [Michele Aragona, set piece analyst] also, they do a lot of behind the scenes. Credit to them, today it worked out and I'm very happy to score again.

“I don’t set any targets for goals, but if I can get five that would be good.”

On his unique wresting-based goal celebration, Kipré added: “It’s John Cena, it’s because my sister is a big fan of him and he’s retired.

“My family is here, they came for Christmas. They came and I scored so it’s beautiful.”

Not long before the goal, Kipré was needed to make a vital intervention at the other end, thwarting Jamal Lowe after he lofted the ball over goalkeeper Christian Walton.

“That was a big one,” the 29-year-old admitted. “I saw Dara [O’Shea] lose the ball and the striker is quite fast, I know him, I’ve played with him. I thought let me sprint towards the goal and see what happens. Luckily it bounced off me.

“I’ve tried my best to be there just in case Walts couldn’t save it. Luckily it came to me and I cleared it.”

Photo: TWTD