Town midfielder Jack Taylor was delighted to come out on the right side of another ‘fine margins’ contest as the Blues earned a dramatic 2-1 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux.
Substitute Taylor was the man of the moment as his 94th-minute header earned Town only their second victory of the season and move to within a point of safety.
The Blues ended a run of three straight defeats to open up a three-point gap between themselves and Wolves below them after striking at the death when it looked as though they would have to settle for a point.
Having initially let another lead slip after Matt Doherty’s own-goal was cancelled out by Matheus Cunha, Taylor’s goal ensured Town would come away from the West Midlands with a much-needed victory and pile more pressure on under-fire Wolves head coach Gary O’Neil.
"I can’t really remember it to be honest,” Taylor said on the late drama. "I wasn’t picked up and the referee did say he was going to blow [for full-time] regardless of what happens, so I thought I’m going to try and get my head on it and thankfully I was unmarked.
"I’ve just watched it back for the first time and it’s quite a good leap to be fair, thankfully it went in.
"It’s probably the best picture you could paint, scoring a last-minute winner like that. I’m just so delighted and I can’t wait to call my family when I get on the bus.
"Great celebrations and all the lads deserve it, no matter if it was me or one of the other lads scoring. I’m buzzing it was me and hopefully I’ll score many more.
"There were a lot of momentum swings in the game especially when they got their equaliser, people in the stadium probably thought they were going to get a winner.
"We’ve got to be composed and stick to our style of play, we get a lot of groans sometimes when we give the ball away but playing out from the back we knew they had gaps because they brought all the attackers on and then we exploited it for the corner.
"We’re more focused on what we’re doing, I think we’re causing a lot of teams problems building out from the back in this league.”
Taylor ranked the moment as number one in his career having become the latest player in the Town squad to have scored in the top four divisions of English football after Sammie Szmodics, Sam Morsy and Conor Chaplin all achieved that feat earlier this season.
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The 26-year-old did feel that the three points was deserved in a match that was billed as one of the most important of the season so far.
He said: "We knew there was a big narrative around this game, whether it was a six-pointer etc. We seemed to cut it all out and focus on our job.
"The way we played, especially in the first half, I think we dominated the game. Away from home at a place like this we knew it would get hostile if we took the ball away from them.
"Credit to all the boys for the way we played, we showed really good character throughout the 90 minutes. Overall, apart from their little spells, we deserved the three points.
"We had to manage it. They chucked loads of forwards on towards the end and they’ve got a lot of quality towards the top end of the pitch, so we had to dial in and get our defensive shape well.
"We also had to show our bits on the ball because when they bring attackers on it leaves gaps in their defensive structure. We did that really well, especially leading up to the corner where I scored we had a really good passage of play. I feel like we deserved it.
"We knew this league was going to be fine margins and unfortunately we’ve come up against it in the last three or four games, we’re delighted for it to go the other way.
"Another dangerous set piece which we’ve been good at lately, we’ve been doing a lot of work on the training pitch. We knew it was going to be fine margins and thankfully it’s gone our way today.”
No team in the Premier League have conceded more goals from set pieces than Wolves, so targeting the hosts from dead ball situations was something the Blues had worked on through the week.
"They are massive,” Taylor admitted. "Everyone looks at Arsenal at the minute but they’re not just winning games from set plays, they’re not conceding goals.
"They are winning games and set plays are a massive part of the game at the minute, we’re working on that. I feel like we dominated the majority of the game and the tempo, so it’s a credit to all the lads and the staff.”
Town’s shirt sponsor and minority shareholder Ed Sheeran was once again in attendance, with the Suffolk-based singer popping into the dressing room after the game to celebrate.
Taylor said: "I had to get a picture with him! Hopefully the guys send me that later, that will be going on Instagram.”
The Blues now head into the festive period with a tricky-looking run of fixtures with Newcastle United, Arsenal and Chelsea coming up before the end of the calendar year.
"It’s good to take momentum into the next game,” Taylor said. "It’s obviously a good win but I think we deserved it throughout the 90 minutes. We’ll take all the positives from the game, we’ll touch on the negatives and we’ll take it into Newcastle.
"That’s what the squad wants. They’ll be changes and everyone in the squad is going to be needed at some point, it’s a good thing for everyone.
"We’re looking forward to it, we’ve got a tough set of fixtures until just past Christmas. Games like this are what we become professionals for.
"It’s going to be special. At Christmas time I’m used to watching it on Match of the Day and catching up on Sky Sports. So to play in it is a dream come true to be honest. We’ve got so many exciting fixtures to look forward to and hopefully we’ll pick up many points.”
Asked about manager Kieran McKenna and how he has adapted to life in the Premier League, Taylor added: "It’s been about trust, he trusts in all the lads who are all stepping up to the job. There’s going to be a top-up in quality of the opponents. We’ve had to change our style of play away from home sometimes.
"We got another away win today but we know we need to pick up our form at home where we’ve been so good in the last two seasons.
"We’ve got a set formation but everyone brings their different qualities. It’s me and Jens [Cajuste] in that left-sided position but he’s a different midfielder to me – I’m more of a runner and he controls the game more with Skip [Sam Morsy] in the middle.
"The boss adjusts to each game and opponent and we can counter what they bring to us.”