Harry Clarke admitted Ipswich Town blew Charlton Athletic away after a thumping 6-0 win lifted the Blues back into the automatic promotion places.
A hat-trick for Conor Chaplin — including Ipswich’s 100th goal of the season — was added to by a brace from substitute Freddie Ladapo before Leif Davis ended a memorable day at Portman Road with a sixth goal in injury time.
Clarke said: "It was a special day. With it being the Foundation Fixture, and dedicating a game to that, and then putting on a performance like that was brilliant.
"We blew them away, we were clinical and we were back with another clean sheet. It’s been special and today was another one of those with the sun shining, a full house and 6-0 — you can’t really get much better than that.
With Sheffield Wednesday losing to Burton Albion, Town’s fate is well and truly in their hands with five games to go — something Clarke acknowledged, without getting too carried away.
The 22-year-old said: "We’ve hit the ground running at the right time, you could say. We drew a lot of games in January, February time. We keep getting the wins and keep doing it.
"Especially at home, we blow teams away and we have so much confidence. There are five games left, we are in a great place, and the way we are playing football at the moment is special.
"I don’t look at the other results. It’s in our own hands. If we win all our games, we are promoted. That’s the way I look at it and that’s the way we look at it. We are focused on us.
"We have set ourselves a target of winning all five. We’ve just had 10 wins from 11. If we make it 15 out of 16, we are promoted and we have got the job done. That’s where we sit.”
Chaplin understandably got the headlines — and the matchball — as he continued his rich scoring form to finally claim a hat-trick.
Clarke said: "We’ve all put our comments on the matchball. He’s special. I don’t want to blow him up again but he’s on fire.”
But Chaplin was ably assisted by his attacking teammates, both those who started and those who made an impact from the bench, with Clarke admitting: "The front three are brilliant and the boys who came off the bench as well all have their own attributes as well.
Kyle Edwards is probably one of the best one-v-ones that you will ever play against. They are all incredible. Luckily, we have a lot of games so I don’t get to train against them a lot. Our squad depth is brilliant with JD [Janoi Donacien] coming on for me today and doing his bit to see out the clean sheet.”
The former Ipswich academy man has impressed all since returning to the club in January — even though he is still waiting for that elusive first goal.
Clarke said: "A goal would have been nice but that will come. I didn’t really have a shot today. I had about three shots in two minutes [against Cheltenham] and the boys were fuming!”
Two other things that have set Clarke apart has been his long throw-ins, one of which set up Chaplin against Cheltenham in the previous game, and celebrating three points with the Town faithful with a post-match fist pump.
Of the throw-ins, he admitted that he had received some extra help in the past from one of the more famous exponents of the art.
He said: "The boys ripped me after Bolton as the ball was wet and I was drying it with a wet top. But a small pitch [at Cheltenham] helps and Chappers scored again.
"I’ve always seemed to have a long throw from when I was younger. And obviously I was at Stoke at the start of the season with Rory Delap as first-team coach. He gave me a few tips and I’ve never seen a throw like his.
"It does cause problems for defenders but it also sets momentum — I think that’s a big thing. We talk a lot about when the ball goes out, to get the ball back in play as quickly as possible. If that’s launching it down the line or getting it in their box and causing them problems, we will do that.”
And the fist pump looks set to continue — hopefully for the next five games — with Clarke adding: "Every time we win [the first pump] is special and I enjoy it. We’ve got to stay as humble and grounded as we can. Five games left and hopefully we will get the job done.”