Town defender Leif Davis admitted he felt emotional seeing teammate Wes Burns make his injury comeback during the Blues’ goalless draw with Millwall at the Den.
Burns had been out of action for 11 months after rupturing his ACL [anterior cruciate ligament] during the Premier League defeat to Liverpool at Anfield in January.
His 335-day hiatus came to an end in London, though, featuring as an 87th-minute substitute after twice playing for the Blues’ U21s during the past month.
Davis, who won back-to-back promotions alongside Burns during their time together at Portman Road, backed the Welshman to have an important role to play in the second half of the season.
"I felt emotional for him when I saw him coming on,” he said. "He’s been like a brother to me, especially when I walked in the door, him and Chappers [Conor Chaplin] were the first people to speak to me in the changing room. I’ve been close with Wes ever since.
"For me, I’m absolutely delighted for him. I’ve seen him working hard at the training ground every day. Even when times have been tough for him, he’s got his head down and grafted his head off.
"I’m absolutely buzzing for him to be back on the pitch, and I know he’ll have a big impact for the last part of the season.”
The Boxing Day draw against Millwall was a tight affair, with Jaden Philogene going closest for Town in the second half when he forced Max Crocombe into a smart save inside a crowded penalty area.
"We had a lot of opportunities in the game to take the lead,” Davis reflected. "We had some good moves in the first half where we could have scored a few goals, but we lacked that quality in the final third.
"It was a difficult game, especially with the set plays and the height of them. They’re big lads and that’s what they’ll want to play for, with balls coming into the box from anywhere and that’s difficult.
"We stood up to that fight today and didn’t give them anything on stuff like that. We worked on it all week in training, especially yesterday was a massive part of it. We worked strongly on it before we came to the hotel and rested up.
"We’ll take a point, it’s a hard place to go, but it would have been better with the three points.
"At the end of the season, it could be a big point. A lot of big teams like Leicester and Southampton have lost here and not taken any points.
"Taking a point away from a tough place to come and a hostile place was better than taking no points away from the game.”
Discussing the hostile environment further, Davis said: "I like it. It’s part of football and what football is all about, getting stuff shouted at you. It gets you going a bit more for me.
"I enjoy it. It makes the atmosphere in the game good as well. Our fans have travelled here, there and everywhere so one more to go in this year and hopefully 2026 is a good year for us as well.”
Millwall shaded the first half and the Blues had goalkeeper Christian Walton to thank for keeping the scores level with a number of important saves, notably keeping out Caleb Taylor and Mihailo Ivanović either side of half-time.
Walton has kept his place in Kieran McKenna’s starting XI, despite the return of Alex Palmer to fitness, and Davis says his performances have warranted his continued selection.
"He’s been a big part for us in the last few years,” he said. "He’s come in for Palms and deserved to keep on playing. He’s done well, he’s kept us in a lot of games and made some incredible saves.
"Today, especially the one in the second half where it looked like it was going in the bottom corner. They only had one shot in the second half but it was an important save because it kept us in the game and got our clean sheet.
"We just need to keep working hard in training as a back unit and doing everything we can to keep the clean sheets coming. Then the forward lads have to do their thing and score goals.
"We’ve worked really hard as a unit in training, doing everything we can to keep the clean sheets. It’s starting to click a bit better at the back and hopefully everything we do in training is taken into the game.”
A lunchtime kick-off on Boxing Day was always going to be logistically difficult, with the Town squad having travelled to the capital late in the day before the match.
While the players had a training session, Davis says he was grateful for the opportunity to have shorter working hours on Christmas Day.
The 25-year-old said: "We had time to spend with family and friends, but it comes with the job. If you’re a footballer, you’re going to be in on Christmas Day and Boxing Day you’ve got a game.
"It’s part and parcel of what you’re committing to. We were lucky to have the morning off to see family and friends. We came to the hotel later on and rested up for the game.”