Massimo Luongo has reflected on the first league start of his second spell with Town, the 4-0 home win over Burton Albion on Saturday, as he looks to keep his place for tomorrow’s game against Accrington Stanley at Portman Road.
The Australian midfielder’s first debut for the Blues came when he was on loan from Tottenham, over a decade ago, and played the full 90 minutes of a 3-1 home victory over Bristol Rovers in the first round of the Capital One Cup in August 2012.
Luongo went on to score in a 2-1 second round defeat at Carlisle and when he returned to White Hart Lane in October that year he had added a further nine Championship outings — six starts and three appearances off the bench — to his cv.
Town go into tomorrow’s clash against the men from Lancashire looking to add to the momentum already gained from a run of three wins on the bounce, four clean sheets in a row and three 4-0 wins from their last four home league games en route to taking 10 points from a possible 12 and reducing the gap from second-placed Plymouth to five points.
Luongo, 30, earned all-round praise for his performance at the weekend and said: "It felt good, really good. Starting a game is always nice. I think the manager kept me off starting for a little while because of injury risk and just getting me up to speed, and stuff like that.
"It was nice to have pretty much a full stadium and I just enjoyed it from the first minute, so I couldn’t be happier.
"I was pretty happy with my game against Burton. It was just kind of normal me for me, I guess, just doing my job with a lot of energy.
"I think I’ve got the lungs to get up and down the pitch, but there were moments in the game when I was probably a bit shaky and blowing a little bit.
"But it was just another day in the office for me and it just happened that it fell the right way for me on the day — it doesn’t always fall the right way so hopefully I can keep doing that.
"I think me coming off a little bit before the end was trying not to blow me up. We’ll see what the manager says but I’m definitely available and I can go again tomorrow if I need to.”
Luongo was asked what had changed the most since his first spell with the club and he replied: "Me, for sure. I think back then I was more lightweight and I was probably more of an on-the-ball type of footballer.
"Anything I would do, would just be reactive, because I was young and enthusiastic, and I had come from the academy at Tottenham.
"I was more technical and trying to get my 100 passes in, whereas now I’ve been around a lot, played a lot of games and I know what it takes to win football matches. What I was back then hasn’t necessarily won football matches and I know you have to do the ugly side of it.
"You’ve got to fight; you’ve got to tackle and you’ve got to run. It might not be pretty all the time but that’s how you win. As for the club, there are a few new additions at the training ground but the stadium is pretty much how I remember it.
"Am I a better player now than I was then? Knowledge-wise, 100 per cent and physically, yes, for sure. When you’re pretty much playing Saturday, Tuesday for 10 years, you sort of get coached out of the spark that you once had as a kid.
"I’d say I am a different player, not necessarily better or worse, and more suited to this league, the Championship or whatever.”
Luongo was a free agent, having been released by Middlesbrough after a short stay on Teesside, when he was invited to train with Town for a few weeks before Christmas and then, once the January transfer window opened, he was offered and accepted a contract through to the end of the current campaign.
"At the time it was an absolute no-brainer,” he recalled. "We weren’t anywhere near promotion or the play-offs at Boro and even though I wasn’t playing, I think it’s nice to be in a place where the club is pushing for something and they’re not just getting to February and everyone is sort of relaxed and you’re on holiday already.
"I thought to myself ‘You know what? This is a big chance to be at a club where they’re going to be there or thereabouts at the end of the season’.
"I knew that whether I had one minute, or I played a lot, at least I would have contributed as much as I could. I think it’s nice to be at a club where they’re pushing, around the play-offs and they’re ambitious, stuff like that. Also, in my head I thought it was the best opportunity to play and get back into football.”
Following a brief lapse in form that saw them drop off the top of the table and briefly down to fourth, Town have built some real momentum in recent weeks to re-emerge as the main challengers to leaders Sheffield Wednesday and Plymouth for the two coveted automatic promotion places.
But Luongo acknowledges there are going to be some more demanding assignments ahead. He added: "I know we have a few tough opponents coming up and I think you just have to play who you’ve got on the day.
"Of course, we want to make it four wins in a row, and then we take that into the next game.
"The aim now is to make it four in a row and if we do, we’ll take any momentum we can get into an away game against Bolton on Saturday, which we all know is going to be tough. But, for now, we’ve got to worry about Accy tomorrow.”