Town striker Freddie Ladapo says victories like last night’s 3-2 success at Port Vale are key to winning promotion from League One.
Ladapo netted the first and third goals for Town, who remain second in the table, two points behind leaders Plymouth but currently six ahead of Sheffield Wednesday in third with the Owls hosting Bristol Rovers this evening.
Asked whether he felt the win at Vale Park was a job well done, the summer signing said: "It wasn’t an easy job well done, but it was perfect. It was the perfect ending, the ending that we expected and so desperately wanted and everyone tried hard for, and we managed to seal that victory.”
Any concerns when the game went to 2-2? "I think they’re a good team at home. They’re always going to be tough, especially when you come to their ground. They’re so big on set pieces, they’re good on the things that they do well.
"But I don’t think we were as much concerned, we just had to make sure that when we’re at our best, we’re a problem for near enough any team.”
Ladapo, 29, was pleased to add his fifth and sixth goals of his time with Town: "Of course, but my role in the team is a lot. You come to grounds like this and you have to be the big presence, you have to win the battles and fight and scrap and help everyone else out because you could see, it’s a fight out there, it’s not just pretty football.
"I think I’m embracing it and as long as I can get goals along with that, I think it’s positive all round.”
The Romford-born frontman says he relishes that side of the game: "Definitely! I don’t mind the fight, to be honest. We were having a few scraps out there, it was nice.”
Reflecting on Leif Davis’s cross for his first goal, he said: "It was top class, it was top quality and the patterns with which we build and the manager sets for us in training are absolutely wonderful.
"You could see today and other weeks that that good play and those good balls and runners and slides through, everything just works well.”
"It’s the patterns of play that we work on. The manager sets up the training sessions and the players, they listen, they pay attention and then when it comes to the match day, we’re really striving hard to recreate those patterns, and we did that today.”
The second goal, from a Cameron Humphreys cross struck the keeper and a defender before landing at Ladapo’s feet.
"Yes, but the pass was intended for me,” he pointed out. "The keeper tried his best to stop it, it took a couple of nicks, but it arrived at its destination anyway and I was more than happy that it came.”
Ladapo was delighted to net in front of the 1,700 Town fans: "It was wonderful to score the winner, especially in front of them as well. You could hear them chanting from the first minute all the way through, they were loud. They were screaming my name, they were screaming the manager’s name, which I’m sure is pleasing for everyone. They give us that extra boost, they’re the 12th man that we need.”
Ladapo had an opportunity to claim a hat-trick when he shot towards goal with keeper Aidan Stone out of his ground.
"I did try and chip him and it didn’t really go to plan!” he laughed. "But I’ve scored a lot of braces, I’m enjoying my braces, but that hat-trick will come one day.”
Having taken his tally to six, Ladapo seems to be up and running after a slow start in front of goal having moved to the Blues in the summer after leaving Rotherham.
"As I expected, to be honest with you,” he insisted. "It’s not always easy. The performance always has to be there as well because I do take pride, I do watch my videos back and make sure that I’m doing everything else well, it’s not just about scoring goals. Six and hopefully many more to come.
"It’s wonderful to score, it’s wonderful to play well. It’s wonderful to win. You go back home to your family, to your friends and everyone’s happy, the town is happy, the fans are especially very, very, very happy, so I think it’s all good.”
Regarding full league debutant Humphreys, he added: "He as an absolutely fantastic player. I’m sure that players, staff, everybody knows the sort of ability he has.
"When he came into the team today, I’m we were very relaxed and we knew that as long as he kept his confidence and kept quite calm that he was going to be wonderful, and he was today.”
Humphreys celebrated that call into the first XI with a brilliant goal: "It was wonderful, a great strike. I was right behind it and I saw it and I was so happy for him, so, so, so happy for him.”
Quizzed on whether he’d scored many as good as that in his career, Ladapo joked: "I have you know, I’m not just a tap-in striker! I’ve scored a few last-minute winners, from distance as well.
"Maybe not a volley quite as sweet as that, he really, really did catch that one. I want to let him have his moment as well.”
Despite having scored twice, Ladapo is far from guaranteed a start at Charlton on Saturday, but he says he has no problem with that.
"I’m learning to enjoy every part of the process,” he said. "I think evolving as a footballer, you need to learn those different roles. Teams require different things. As long as I’m positive and I keep my head in the game and bring what I can to the team, I’ll be happy with that.”
Reflecting on the Blues sitting in second a third of the way through the season, he said: "It’s where I expected to be as well, where I hoped to be and through hard work from, not just me, but the team, the staff and everyone we are right up there and hopefully we can carry on doing that for the rest of the season.”
He has no problem with Town being there to be shot at: "Of course, any player is there to be shot at. I’m sure when we step off and we line up, all 11 of us, I’m sure we’re going to get the critics, we’re going to get everything, but so as long as when you cross the white line and you try your best and you bring some good quality, things will go well.”
Having been part of the Rotherham side which won promotion from League One last season, Ladapo knows what it takes to stay up there and he believes victories like the one at Port Vale are key.
"It takes days like today,” he said. "Days like today are literally the summary of the season. You get hard away games, you get home games that even feel like away games because maybe the team set-up is a bit defensive and things like that.
"But you need to learn to fight and battle and have that intensity, and obviously score the goals to win the games.”
Can he see similarities with that Rotherham side and Town this season? "Definitely. There’s a winning streak, there’s a culture, there’s a real togetherness in the team - we got pegged back and came back from it and you see every single player is happy for each other. There are a lot of similarities.”
Ladapo feels it was important that the Blues won despite skipper Sam Morsy and fellow midfield linchpin Lee Evans having been unavailable.
"It’s huge,” he said. "Our captain, first of all. He’s chipped in with goals, assists, he’s been a pivotal part of our season.
"And Lee Evans as well, he’s done the exact same thing. It’s wonderful to have players to come in and play as well as they did today. I’m very proud of the boys that came in today.”