Boss Mick McCarthy felt two moments of quality saw the Blues to a 2-0 victory in what otherwise was a “tough, tough game” at home to fellow promotion contenders Middlesbrough. Daryl Murphy and Jay Tabb netted the goals in the first half.
"It was a hard game against a very good team with good players,” he said. "A lot of it was just that, a tough, tough game, but two bits of real quality came from us that ended up in goals.”
Having been accused of playing long-ball football by a couple of opposition managers recently, McCarthy added: "People like putting labels on things, especially when they’ve been beaten.
"As I say, the two real bits of quality in the game were the football prior to both goals. And Tabby’s was just awesome, the bit before it, but his finish was fantastic. Put it in the box for the big man! The long ball game.
"I think we had a discussion about Tabby last week at Bolton and he just continues to flourish and get better and better.
"I made them all back themselves in a sweepstake within the club, not in the betting agencies before anybody asks.
"And if they don’t get the goals that they said his £100 goes to charity, so he only needs another seven, he better pull his finger out!”
He added: "I thought the build-up play prior to the second goal was excellent, the movement between Didz and Ando and Chambo and it was a great cross and a great finish.
"Is Tabby 5ft 7in tall? I don’t know. I’ll give him that, he’ll be thrilled with that. He gets stick for it every day and he takes it all in good play, but he is excellent in the air.
"He came on loan [from Reading] and he helped stabilise the club when he came on loan, he was terrific.
"I remember his first game at Peterborough, he’d not played a lot of football and he saw the game out and we ended up drawing 0-0 up there.
"You just saw the sort of guy he was and the attitude he had, he was fantastic and he’s continued to do that.
"To be fair, he could have left at the end of the season last year but he said ‘No way, I like it here, I’m staying, I’m going to fight for my place, he’s got it and he deserves it.”
McCarthy was delighted with Teddy Bishop, who put in a man of the match performance against former Blues skipper Grant Leadbitter and Adam Clayton in central midfield.
"They’re two very accomplished midfield players in this league,” he continued. "I think Aitor Karanka was saying The Bish was the best player on the pitch.”
Regarding the first-half penalty claim when Ken Omeruo fouled David McGoldrick and the Blues striker was booked for diving, McCarthy was in no doubt: "Stonewall, and a sending off.”
He was pleased his side limited the Teessiders to only a handful of chances: "Bartosz hasn’t had too many saves to make.
"They were the toughest, and probably still have the toughest defence and they work as a unit and as a team and we’ve managed to breach them a couple of times and they’ve not done it against us.”
He continued: "Maybe they didn’t play as well, but you’re only allowed to play as much as the opposition playing against you let you.
"I think we’ve played well and what we have done is defend well against a really good team with good players that will be in the top-six all season long.”
The victory was Town’s eighth out of 11 games at home this season: "I keep saying, we’re geographically challenged. Everywhere we travel long distances, it was six hours up to Bolton last weekend.
"They all have to come here, have to travel down, it’s not the easiest place. Friday you get down here, it’s a long time on the bus and then we’ve got a half-decent team when they get here, which is nice.”
The Blues boss insists he’ll keep his side together during the January transfer window, despite Premier League interest in the likes of Tyrone Mings and David McGoldrick.
"Of course I expect to keep them together,” he said. "We turned £7 million down from Leicester.
"Talk about trust and backing. Marcus Evans rang me up and said ‘Listen, I’ve had a £3.5 million bid from Crystal Palace for Tyrone Mings, what do you want to do?’.
"I said ‘No’, but it probably sounded different over the phone and he’s still here. And it was the same with Didzy and, to be fair, it was Marcus who was digging his heels in with Didzy. I was the one who was saying ‘Listen, if it gets any more, we might lose him anyway’.
"Thankfully, he hasn’t gone and we haven’t lost him and he remains very professional and keeps doing his job well.”
He says Bishop will also inevitably be the subject of Premier League interest but is better off staying at Town: "Of course, but I think he’s got about a four-year contract. It would be wrong anyway. He should play his football here.
"It’s funny, you start doing well and everybody says ‘Get them out the door, let’s sell them off to a big Premier League club’.
"And you know what, they go and play and then don’t play, and he’s currently here thriving in a team that’s doing well. He’s getting all the rave reviews, he’s only 18.
"Mark Kennedy, who works here, he played for me at Millwall and we had to sell him then because we were skint.
"And we sold him to Liverpool and he barely played at Liverpool. Started the first game, hit the cross-bar and was then left out for a long time.
"Bish doesn’t want that and I don’t want that for him, he’s a really talented lad. If he wants to play in the Premier League, let’s see if we can get there.
"I don’t know if we will. We’ve got a chance where we are just now, but who knows what will happen in the next 20-odd games that we’ve got left.”
Boro boss Aitor Karanka admitted his team were second best: "It was our worst performance today but for me it’s easy to understand.
"It was one team who wanted to win the game and another team who one week ago were flying on the pitch and off the pitch.
"We were flying and thinking we are a Premier League team or a Champions League team and this is the Championship, not the Champions League.
"We needed it, one game like today, because we needed an alarm to wake us up because one week ago we were flying and now we have to keep our feet on the ground.”
He added: "It’s easy to explain. If Murphy can score a goal the first time he touched the ball it’s because you’re not concentrating.
"And when Bishop is 18-years-old and he is the best on the pitch and is joking with our players.
"When a player who is 5ft 5in tall scores at the far post with his head it’s because they wanted it more than us. It’s easy to explain.”