Town midfielder Jack Taylor has responded to accusations of cheating from Norwich City boss Philippe Clement after last Saturday’s East Anglian derby at Carrow Road.
Taylor went to ground under the challenge of Anis Ben Slimane in the penalty area following a Blues corner, with referee Anthony Backhouse subsequently taking his time before eventually pointing to the spot.
Jaden Philogene calmly converted from 12 yards to set Town on their way to a first Carrow Road victory in more than 20 years, with three points also signalling a first league double since 1992/93.
In his post-match comments, Canaries boss Clement suggested that Taylor attempted to deceive the referee into awarding the penalty and that the midfielder was "a player trying to cheat”.
The 27-year-old strongly denied those claims and believes the focus of Clement’s frustration should lie elsewhere.
"Well I definitely didn’t cheat,” he declared. "That would be my first response to it. I felt contact, I watched it back and the video didn’t look as clear as it was.
"From a different angle, you’d probably get a better solution. I’ve gone on the blind side of him and he’s kicked my foot. If it happened to our players, that would be sloppy defending in my opinion.”
Norwich were limited to very few chances and the Blues were ultimately good value for their victory, where Kieran McKenna’s side put in one of their best defensive performances of the season.
Taylor said: "It shone through at the Norwich game where I don’t think we were great on the ball, but if you watch us back defensively we were bang at it. I don’t think Norwich would have scored if we played an extra half an hour. In that sense, that was us at our best defensively.
"At this stage of the season, sometimes you might not play well. As long as you get the goals and you get the win, that’s all that matters really.
"You want to try and play your best and you set up tactically how you want to break down an opponent, but not all games go like that. You might have to go a bit longer and feel the game and give the game what it needs to get the win.”
Town were unable to follow up their success in Norfolk and fell to a 2-0 defeat at relegation-fighting Portsmouth at Fratton Park on Tuesday.
Both goals came in the space of two minutes at the end of the first half, with arguably the biggest disappointment being the comfort in which Pompey were able to sit on their two-goal lead.
Taylor, who remained an unused substitute, does not believe the loss on the south coast was the result of a derby day hangover.
"The Norwich game was a real high for the club and team,” he said. "It was a result we deserved on the day and has been coming for a long time, especially against them at Carrow Road, so we’re delighted with that.
"Really disappointed with Tuesday night. We know we were way below the standards that we’ve set, and we’ve got to make sure that doesn’t happen again for the remaining games.
"It was just one of those nights where we weren’t at it. I don’t think we were good on the ball and we weren’t great off the ball either. We’ve conceded two goals in a spell where we probably need to get into half-time at 0-0 and regroup, and then anything can happen.
"I don’t think the Norwich game had anything to play in it. We know what the Championship is like, you’ve got to be at it every game and everywhere you go.
"Fratton Park on the night was electric because of what position they’ve left themselves in. We’ve just got to brush ourselves down and attack Sunday.”
This weekend’s clash against fellow promotion chasers Middlesbrough will see the Blues return to home soil for the first time since beating Birmingham City that finally ended a two-year wait for a comeback victory.
Taylor said: "That was another one where you don’t know what side Birmingham are going to bring. They played against us in the first game of the season where they played quite a lot.
"They came to our place and were shelling it quite long, so it was a strange one from them. No matter what gets thrown at us, we’ve got to feel the game and give what it needs to get three points.”
As Town fight for a second promotion to the Premier League in three years, Taylor will hope to have something to celebrate this summer after his Republic of Ireland side failed to qualify for the World Cup.
The Boys in Green were knocked out of their recent play-off semi-final to Czechia on penalties, but Ali Al-Hamadi and George Hirst will both hope to feature at the finals for Iraq and Scotland respectively.
"It was gut-wrenching at the time,” Taylor reflected. "We were in pole position going 2-0 up, at 2-1 we were trying to hang on and they scored from a set play in the last five.
"Penalties is a lottery, isn’t it? I was absolutely gutted for that because it would have been the perfect summer for me, a World Cup in America. The highs are highs, lows are lows.
"It will be good to watch your mates at a World Cup, which will be exciting watching nations you probably would never watch before apart from if your mates are playing.
"I’m delighted that Ali scored his goal and he’s doing quite well at Luton this year. Hirsty, I hope he gets as many minutes as he can at the World Cup.”