Town boss Mick McCarthy hailed a “great win” which will give everyone at Portman Road a boost including owner Marcus Evans after the Blues defeated Aston Villa 1-0 at Villa Park, loanee Emyr Huws netting the winner with seven minutes remaining.
"It was a great win, a fantastic win,” McCarthy said. "We played well last week [in the 2-2 draw with Reading], I didn’t want to come here and not play well, that’s for sure. It was a back-up performance to last week’s and an even better result.”
The Blues boss felt his team showed spirit after losing centre-halves Christophe Berra and Steven Taylor to injury in the first half, but says that side of the performance was no surprise to him.
"I’ve never doubted the character of the team, I’ve said sometimes that our quality’s not been great but I think that’s been a lot better,” he added.
"I think Toums and Emyr Huws have helped that in the middle of the pitch have been excellent and I think the two lads up front have stuck it and worked hard.
"I could go through them all but there have been certain aspects of the team that has been better, we’ve kept the ball better. We’ve always been good at disrupting others and getting the ball back but we’ve been better with it in the last two games.”
McCarthy was delighted with Huws’s winner having wanted more goals from midfield for much of his time at Town.
"That’s something we’ve not had and it’s invaluable, they should come from other places,” he said.
"The fact that Didz picked him out and didn’t have a shot from a narrow angle was great. Emyr’s made a real difference to us, him and Toums.”
McCarthy says Huws is not unlike a number of players in his Town teams, whose careers have seemed to be drifting a little when they moved to Portman Road.
"There are a few of them in the team, Tom Lawrence, Didzy, Daryl Murphy, he ended up going for £3 million, we’ve had a few in the team like that,” he continued.
"He wants to play, he took a pay cut to come and play football, which tells you something about him, I don’t see too many players doing that.”
Regarding the makeshift back three of Jordan Spence, skipper Luke Chambers and Jonas Knudsen, he added: "It’s lovely, Jordan Spence was with us on trial and then we were OK because Josh Emmanuel was coming through.
"But when we were scratching around for players in the window I thought we’d have another look and he’s been great. If he’s not hungry for it there’s something wrong having not played all season.
"And Jonas, I’ve always fancied that he’d make a left-sided centre-back in a three because he’s good in the air and he can deal with going out wide.”
What was the most important thing he will take from the game? "Three points, and I’ll enjoy my weekend. And going into work will be a lot easier, all those things.
"But I won’t be going out partying or anything like that. It’s a buzz for me, a buzz for the team, it’s buzz for the club.
"I’m sure it’s a boost for Marcus, my owner, he gets plenty of flak and sticks £6 million in a year to keep the place going, which is always great to know, isn’t it?
"If my missus was giving me flak after all the money I’ve put into the house, I’d be a bit pissed off. It’ll be a boost for him as well and everybody connected with the club.”
McCarthy didn’t know too much about Christophe Berra’s injury, the Scotland international having been subbed in the first half after taking a nasty blow to the head from Villa’s Tommy Elphick, which the Blues boss believed should have resulted in a spot-kick.
"I thought it was a penalty, I thought he elbowed him, I thought he was going to head it and it was a penalty,” he said.
"I don’t know what’s up with him, I think he got sparked, I don’t know yet. I don’t think he does.
"I hope it’s not a concussion because if it is he might not be able to play for a couple of weeks."
The Blues manager confirmed that Steven Taylor had been replaced earlier in the half with a hamstring problem, which will almost certainly rule him out of the next couple of games.
McCarthy has also revealed that recent loan signing Dominic Samuel, who scored a hat-trick for the U23s on Monday, will be out for six weeks with a broken toe.
The Town boss says his Villa counterpart Steve Bruce should be given time with the Midlanders having had five full-time managers in the last two years.
""I think Steve’s had to turn the team around and try and get them to play in his own image, not the players that he had. I’ve no doubt that’s what will happen with him because he’s proven and he’s a good manager.
"But it doesn’t always work when all these players come in, they have to gel, they have to get together. It’s a process, it doesn’t just happen.”
How long does it take to turn a club around? "I don’t know but I think they need more than the average tenure which is 12 months or even less than that now.
"You can’t just turn it around, you just can’t. Pep Guardiola goes to Manchester City and he’s a god in the first 10 games and now he’s a dog. How do you get to that? That’s an anagram, very quick isn’t it?
"And he’s been the best manager on the planet for a while apart from Alex Ferguson, and they want him out of the door. I’ve no idea."
He added: "The consensus of opinion would have had me out before November or December. Would it have made a difference? I don’t know, it might have done.
"Might be like Wolves and get relegated two divisions. That was a good decision that one.
"I don’t know, you’ve got to keep working at it. You get an instant response as Steve did, there’s other managers, Nottingham Forest have had an instant response, they’ve signed a lot of players but they’ve had a response.
"Others do, but it’s having that longevity, keeping it going. I’ve done it for four nearly five.
"Brucey’s tops though. They’ll start getting bored with him now, they’ll start getting upset with him because they’ve been beaten by us but he’s got to be given time for the process of making the team his.
"How many promotions has he had, four? Well, he’ll have a fifth if they give him time. Six managers in two years here? That’s always good for continuity, isn’t it?”
Villa manager Bruce felt the defeat, his club's first at home this season, was harsh on his side.
"It's tough at the minute and difficult because we certainly didn't deserve to lose," he said.
"With the chances we've had we've created enough, even though they're not clear-cut ones we've had some really good opportunities and not took them.
"Again we make one mistake and we've been punished and it's one of those horrible afternoons that turns it into an awful weekend. We start again tomorrow and we need something to change for us."