Town striker George Hirst admitted he had a point to prove after scoring in a seven-goal thriller with former club Blackburn Rovers to continue the Blues’ excellent start to the Championship season.
Hirst slotted home his side’s third goal of the afternoon as Town edged past the Lancastrians for their fourth straight win in yet another high-scoring affair at Portman Road.
The 24-year-old has now beaten two of his former sides in a week after last Saturday’s victory at Sheffield Wednesday, and the frontman was pleased to round off a perfect seven days for the Blues.
"It’s been a good week for me personally,” he said. "Nine points from nine is not easy to do in any division, never mind the Championship where anybody can beat anybody.
"We’ve beaten two of my former clubs but, whether they were or not, all that matters is we win the games.
"If we can go and beat every team in this division, they’re not all going to be my former clubs, but it probably does make it a little bit sweeter.
"I just look at my time [at Blackburn] as a lesson learned. There was times when I didn’t play because I wasn’t good enough and there were times where I felt like I was good enough and should have played. I don’t hold any bad blood towards it.
"It was a point to prove, don’t get me wrong, to go out there and play against a team you didn’t play much at for whatever reason, it’s always nice to get the chance to put it right. I thought I did that today and that’s a nice feeling.”
Since joining Town in January, initially on loan before being made permanent in the summer, Hirst, who pointedly celebrated his goal in front of his old fans, has not been short of confidence, perhaps a contrast to his spell on loan at Rovers a year ago where he made 11 appearances - although only three of those starts - without scoring.
Hirst said: "I feel confident going into every game that I can get on the scoresheet. We do our work throughout the week and look at every opponent we’re playing. For me, I look at the centre-halves and the goalkeeper and see what I’m coming up against.
"It probably does make it a little bit easier having trained and played with these boys. But they probably know my strengths as well so it that sense it makes it a little bit harder as they know what I’m about, so it’s a big game of cat and mouse really. It’s just about knowing your opponent and going and doing your job on the day.”
Hirst’s second goal of the season was slotted through the legs of visiting keeper Aynsley Pears, but arguably the most pleasing aspect was the perfection on the through ball from centre-half Cameron Burgess.
The former Leicester City man agreed, praising the quality of pass from the recently capped Australia international.
"Sometimes with those you don’t think too much about it, just get your toe on it, poke it towards the goal and see what happens,” he said.
"It’s all about the ball from Burg, to be fair. I’ve made the run and he’s put it on a plate for me. When you’ve got that kind of service, it’s my job to put it in the back of the net and today was a day where I went and done that.
"It’s nice to score no matter who you score against. As long as I can keep scoring, I’m not really fussed who it comes against.”
It was another Aussie who provided the winner, Massimo Luongo, the midfielder netting a 79th-minute goal with a neat chest and volley which proved enough to ensure that another three points were staying in Suffolk.
Hirst said: "Mass doesn’t score too many but when he does, they tend to be quite good goals. As long as he keeps bringing them up at the right time and we keep winning games then ultimately that’s what matters.
"We score a lot of goals at home and we back ourselves to outscore any team. We don’t want to be conceding three goals at home every week but when we do if we can go and score four then we’ll do that.
"We know we’ve got goals in the team all the way through, whether that’s set pieces with Woolfy [Luke Woolfenden], Burg, Clarkey [Harry Clarke] today hitting a hell of a strike when it drops down to him. If we can keep it out of our own goal, I’d like to think we’ll win more than we lose.”
Clarke’s strike was the opener and was the right-back’s first goal for his boyhood club. Despite being pegged back, Nathan Broadhead scored his fourth of the season and Hirst netted to ensure the Blues’ took a healthy lead into half-time.
Reflecting on the first half, Hirst said: "We stuck to our game plan. I’ve said previously we’re going to have setbacks in the season but we’re ready for them whenever they may come and we don’t expect it to be perfect.
"We score and then they score pretty soon after, it just shows the mental resilience we’ve got in the squad. We’ve had a little bit of a setback, but we’ll stick to our plan and what we’re doing and we’ll be alright. I think that showed.”
Despite the healthy scoreline, Rovers rallied and were level in the second half thanks to a Clarke own goal and Sammie Szmodics’s equaliser, something Hirst believes Town need to work on having become somewhat of the league’s entertainers with 19 goals - 10 for and nine against - in the last three home matches.
"I wouldn’t say it was a surprise as we knew they were going to come out,” he said. "We knew that they can create chances out of nothing and they did that by hitting us with two quick-fire goals. It’s something that we’ll look back on in the week and think could we have done better – probably.
"But that was the hand we were dealt and we dealt with it really well, we showed our reaction and then Mass scores an amazing goal to put us 4-3 up and from then we were solid.
He added: "It was an interesting one. It was one that I think we deserved to come out on the right side of the result. We knew it was going to be that kind of game with the way that they play, I tried to give as much knowledge as possible knowing them a little bit better than the other boys.
"We knew it was going to be a tough game and they’d come at us with everything they’ve got. They did that but we deserved to be on the right side of it.”
Asked if the two recent away trips may have made an impact, Hirst said: "I personally don’t think so. Those games are done and I don’t think you can use them as excuses. If we had not conceded them two [in the second half] today, we’d have still had that journey in our legs and no-one would mention it.
"We made mistakes that led to the goals, which is something we’ll take ownership and responsibility for regardless of how far we’ve been travelling over the past week. It’s something we need to be better at and we can work on that as a team.
"We’ll take responsibility for ourselves and as long as we do that and not start making excuses for things that don’t go our way, then that puts us in a strong position.”
The Blues have taken to Championship life like a duck to water. Seven wins from the opening eight matches have left them sitting second in the table behind Leicester on goal difference.
But the flying start has not led to Kieran McKenna and the squad getting carried away, with Hirst emphasising the importance of taking each game as it comes and reflecting on his own start to the season with relative positivity.
He said: "I think people would expect there to be a bigger buzz. For us, it’s job done today but we’ve got another game on Tuesday then Saturday. We’ll enjoy the win, but everyone will go home and do the best recovery they can tonight and wake up tomorrow morning and go again.
"There’s no time to rest on our laurels or get ahead of ourselves, we’ve got to keep our feet on the ground and keep putting the work in.
"I’d like to be on a few more goals, probably two, three, even four more goals than I’m currently on. I had a couple of injuries that kept me out for three weeks, I tried it in the Cardiff game and it didn’t quite go to plan.
"I’m still trying to get to my top level of fitness but it won’t be too long before I’m there. And once I get there, I feel it’s only a matter of time before the goals start going in.
"I’m probably owed a couple, I think there’s a couple of penalties that I feel I should have had. That tends to be the case when I’m the one that’s going to be taking them, if it’s someone else I’m sure they’d have been given. I’m just trying to keep working hard day in day out and if we keep winning games then ultimately whether I score or not is not the main thing.”
With Town in the middle of a period of seven games in 21 days, keeping the squad fresh is going to be critical between now and the October international break.
That may mean rotation, not least up front with Freddie Ladapo and Dane Scarlett awaiting the chance, but Hirst knows that competition for places is strong and will only stand the team in good stead going forwards.
"We’ve got competition all over the pitch in every position and it keeps the boys hungry,” he said. "No-one can get complacent as there’s always someone breathing down your neck trying to take your shirt off you.
"It’s healthy for any team and we’ve got it good with this squad that everybody knows that anybody could play on any given day, so everyone’s got to be ready.
"I think we’re showing that when the subs come on and everyone knows their roles – you’ve got Omari [Hutchinson] slide-tackling people on the halfway line in the last minute. Everyone’s hungry and wants to be in the team, which is good for everybody.”
Hirst also provided a fitness update after he struggled with an adductor injury earlier in the month.
The former England U17, U18, U19 and U20 international said: "It’s gone and I feel good, touch wood. I’m just getting back to my top level of fitness, hoping to get stronger, play longer every week, have more impact and run harder for longer.
"That’s all a massive part of my game and I need that as I’m not the kind of player that can play at any less than 100 per cent. When I’m not 100 per cent it probably shows and I feel it as well, so I’m happy that’s hopefully behind me and I can kick on now.”
The Sheffield-born striker appears well settled at Portman Road and was asked whether he could pinpoint the moment he knew he wanted to return during his period on loan last season.
He said: "It’s hard to put a point on it as this is the time, it just clicked and worked. After the first week with the boys I felt comfortable and at home. It was a place where, as soon as I came, I was happy I made that decision and I feel like I’ve borne the fruits of it ever since.”