Defender Jonas Knudsen joked that he knows his moment to score after netting his second derby goal of the season in yesterday’s 1-1 draw against Norwich City at Carrow Road. The Danish international’s only other goal this season came in the 1-1 draw with the Canaries at Portman Road in August.
"It’s brilliant, an important goal to score in a derby,” the 24-year-old enthused after his header had ended a 27-pass Town move to open the scoring in the 63rd minute.
"We talked about it the other day, that I’d have to score again. I think I know my moment when I have to score goals!”
Knudsen’s goal owed much to right wing-back Jordan Spence’s deep cross in from the right.
"It was a brilliant ball and I took a chance,” the former Esbjerg fB man added. "I saw the ball coming in, I thought it was a good situation for me and I went through. It wasn’t the easiest ball to head in but I did it and it was nice. And you saw the fans, how important it was for them.”
He says he loved celebrating with the 2,000-strong Town support: "I enjoyed it so much, that’s what football’s about, this game is what’s football’s about, what we love.
"I think the fans love it and we love it and I think everybody loves it. This is how a football game has to be, the atmosphere and everything up to the game, after the game, in the game.
"I scored a goal like that and celebrate with the fans. That’s so nice. It can’t be better and could do that all day long.”
Knudsen says some of his friends made the trip from Denmark to watch the match: "I have three of my best mates over and my girlfriend was over to watch it and it was brilliant.
"And it was on telly in Denmark, which was nice so my family could watch it. I’ve got some messages from them and they enjoyed it. We'll take the point but when you’re 1-0 up you want to win.”
The defender, who started as one of Town's three centre-halves before switching to left wing-back, admits it was disappointing that Norwich equalised his goal only six minutes later.
"You saw in the first half we were a little bit on the back foot against Norwich and they were a little bit more aggressive than us but I think we came out in the second half better,” he continued.
"Of course, they had some chances but there will always be chances in a game and when you go 1-0 up you want to keep the lead and get a win
"You have to be tough and stay with it, but we take the point out of it. We’re away from home, we’re playing a derby and I think a draw was fair.”
Knudsen enjoyed the derby atmosphere: "I thought it was a great, I think it’s a nice stadium, a full stadium. It’s what we’re playing for, these kinds of game. This is the atmosphere you want to play in every time because that’s how it should be.
"I think our fans were brilliant today and I think also the Norwich fans were good, so you have to say it was a good atmosphere and I enjoyed it so much.”
Regarding keeper Bartosz Bialkowski, who made a string of saves, including a first-half stop which prevent Knudsen from scoring at the wrong end, the grateful defender said: "He was brilliant. He has done great this year, he’s had a great season and I hope he will keep on keeping consistent. Now it looks like the team is also going to be a little more consistent.”
Reflecting on Town’s unbeaten five-game February against some of the division’s toughest sides, he added: "Because we weren’t in a good run before I think people started talking about needing the fans behind us. But I think we did it together and the fans were behind us.
"We started playing well and the results have been great and our football has been great. I think we have played a little bit more and the system suits us. That’s great.
"It’s a tough league and everybody can beat everybody and you can see that. Look at the table before these games, we have taken seven points out of them and we’ve been unbeaten for the last five games, which is very nice."
Having come through that difficult February Knudsen says Town can’t now let up in what look on paper to be less daunting fixtures with visits from Brentford and Wolves up next.
"You have to be 100 per cent and I think we’ve been 100 per cent, 110 per cent in the last few games because we knew they were big games, big crowds we have to play for, big teams,” the man known as 'Mad Dog' to his team-mates said.
"But we stand up against these teams and maybe the next couple of games are against teams with not the same squads but if you are at only 90 per cent, 95 then you can get in trouble.
"You have to be 100 per cent and go into the game like we’ve done in the last few weeks because if you don’t do that we’ll be in trouble.
"If we keep on going like we have done in the last few weeks, I think we’ll definitely pick some points up. We have to stick together and keep going like we have done.”
Norwich's goalscorer Jacob Murphy claimed he exploited a weakness in Blues keeper Bialkowski's game.
"I'd watched the goals from the previous games and Nathan [Redmond] scored a similar one two seasons ago at his near post," he said.
"So I knew that he would be vulnerable there. That was the thought process with that. You've got to exploit weaknesses."