Boss Mick McCarthy felt Town’s 2-0 victory over Brighton at the Amex was a “huge win” at a difficult ground to visit. Second-half goals from Tommy Smith and Daryl Murphy saw ninth-placed Town to the three points against fellow play-off challengers Albion.

“A huge win, it’s a difficult place to come and play,” he said. “It’s a fabulous place to come and play, I might add.

“We’ve done things right today. We’ve defended when we’ve had to and we’ve taken our chances. Last week I was saying that it was the reverse.

“I thought we played well last week but didn’t take chances and conceded poor goals. I’m sure when you ask their manager he’ll be saying exactly the same as that.”

He believes Brighton are a decent team: “They’re a good side. They’ve got good players. They play out from the back a lot, they play some good football.

“Gerks has made saves and they’ve had a couple of flicks and things but I think we had our fair amount of chances. As an away performance it’s a very good one.”

McCarthy was again delighted with central defenders Smith and Christophe Berra, who he said was fine despite taking a knock: “They are that outstanding that Chambo can’t get a game at centre-half. And he’s a very competent right-back certainly.”

The Town boss felt Daryl Murphy put in as good a display as he’s ever seen from him as he took his goals tally for the season to 10: “If he’s ever played better than that I want to see it.

"His hold-up play, his running in the channels, he’s up there on his own, he comes back and defends.

“I think it was down to work with TC him getting across the defender [for the goal]. He said it came off his shoulder but he got across the defender and it was a great goal for him because I think he deserved it with his performance.”

McCarthy was similarly impressed with loanee Jonny Williams’s performance, the Wales international having created the goal for Murphy having taken a fair amount of stick from his parent club’s rivals.

“The Palace reject, eh? I’ll take him if that’s what he is!” the Blues manager joked. “I don’t think so somehow. He’s a good player, he gives us something different, that’s for sure.”

The Town boss is pleased that Town remain in the play-off hunt with nine games to go: “We’ve still got a chance.

“We’re playing Derby on Tuesday and Nottingham Forest on Saturday and I said I’d probably know where we are at the end of this week. I might not, it might still be all in the mix. It’s lovely that we’ve got a chance, that’s nice.”

The Blues have completed a double over Brighton this season having also won 2-0 in the home fixture in September, but McCarthy says his team have had to work for their six points: “I think we’ve played well in both games and we’ve had to play as well as we can in both games.

“We had to play well at our place and we’ve had to do it again, and I think slightly differently here. We’ve had to sit back at times and let them have it at the back and I think they might feel a little bit that they’ve been mugged.

“But I think we’ve had plenty of chances and we’ve had one in the net as well when Jonny Williams was onside [in the first half], by the way. He was onside. But it didn’t make any difference, so we’ll let them off.”

Brighton manager Oscar Garcia thought his side should have won the match: “We were the better team, we created more than enough chances to win this game but we didn’t take them.

“I’m happy with the performance, but disappointed with the two goals that we conceded because we switched off twice and they punished us. They did very little to win this game, but at the end of the day they scored two goals."

Photo: Action Images

hairbear added 18:44 - Mar 22 Would have liked to have seen his Taylor comments on here. Mick was quite straight talking on the radio. Taylor doesn't have a team mentality and micks the boss. Superb win, roll on Tuesday.
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NoCanariesAllowed added 18:50 - Mar 22 It was a very good win, and not one I was expecting either. While I remain sceptical on the playoff talk, this was a result we needed to keep our season interesting. Wasn't that impressed with our overall display for most of the game, but we really did frustrate Brighton's attack well and I can only remember one truly testing save Gerken had to make. First goal was a tad untidy but I thought the second one was a nice little finish from Murphy and a cushion we dearly needed. From there I thought we started playing with a lot of confidence, and I thought young Williams was excellent. And the bookies are idiots. Tommy Smith first scorer at 28-1? Do they not realise what he's capable of? Always nice to head home with points and a profit. :)

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StowTractorBoy added 18:54 - Mar 22 Fantastic support today which I am sure helped the team especially in the second half when attacking our end. Thought we rode our luck in the first half when Brighton missed a couple of good chances but generally we defended superbly. Smith and Berra again outstanding and Gerks pulled off an excellent save in the second half. I was worried that Ward was given far too much space from left back in the first half as he put in many crosses that were wasted by Brighton. Anderson does play very narrow which allowed Ward to find so much space. Great shift from Murphy today and he deserved his goal and what a ray of sunshine is Jonny Williams as at last we have a player albeit temporarily who can take on a man and beat him and his joy after the second Town goal was a moment to behold. The Brighton faithful were not happy on the local radio phone in after the match bemoaning their missed chances and lack of attacking options. Where have we heard that before - but not today. There is still hope for a top six place but the next two games are crucial.

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StowTractorBoy added 18:54 - Mar 22 Fantastic support today which I am sure helped the team especially in the second half when attacking our end. Thought we rode our luck in the first half when Brighton missed a couple of good chances but generally we defended superbly. Smith and Berra again outstanding and Gerks pulled off an excellent save in the second half. I was worried that Ward was given far too much space from left back in the first half as he put in many crosses that were wasted by Brighton. Anderson does play very narrow which allowed Ward to find so much space. Great shift from Murphy today and he deserved his goal and what a ray of sunshine is Jonny Williams as at last we have a player albeit temporarily who can take on a man and beat him and his joy after the second Town goal was a moment to behold. The Brighton faithful were not happy on the local radio phone in after the match bemoaning their missed chances and lack of attacking options. Where have we heard that before - but not today. There is still hope for a top six place but the next two games are crucial.

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Rentaghost added 18:56 - Mar 22 Im working more Saturdays. Always win when i work.
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Fatboy added 19:01 - Mar 22 "They did very little to win this game." Apart from scoring two goals and keeping a clean sheet.
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Michael11 added 19:01 - Mar 22 Great win today. Real perfect away performance. Defended well and took the chances when they came. I think Williams is exactly the type of creative player we've lacked for years, he was outstanding in that second goal. Fans were superb today too. Maybe our season isn't quite over just yet! COYB!!
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muccletonjoe added 19:03 - Mar 22 Find some humility Garcia , we did enough to stop you from scoring and can only remember gerken making one good save.
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bluefeast added 19:06 - Mar 22 why do people care about taylor comments or indeed taylor ,he has done absolutely nothing and MM is clearly not impressed. Weve won , we have a chance of an exciting end to the season ,lets be happy and positive about that shall we
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GerkensBeard added 19:25 - Mar 22 Brilliant result today, have to say before the game I didn't expect anything but our style of play today certainly payed off. Just have to enjoy this win tonight and look forward to hopefully a good end to the season, still think were out of the playoff chase, then again that could all change this time next Saturday.
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GerkensBeard added 19:28 - Mar 22 And what makes it even sweeter is that we shut the full house at the amex up, seeing some of the comments from their fans about us during the week come back to bite them! Gotta love it
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Jimmy86 added 19:45 - Mar 22 @bluefeast, why get excited by taylor?? Did you see his man of the match performance against birmingham at home?? He is a classy, attack minded creative player who can change a game. He certainly played for his team mates and the fans that day!!! Plus having read harry's notes prior to the game I too think they are eating humble pie right now. Not quite the stuffing they thought they were going to give us. Plus sour grapes comes to mind regarding garcia's comments. Great result COYB

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JWM added 19:52 - Mar 22 I think Garcia needs a big bag of sugar after swallowing all those lemons!
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TimmyH added 19:56 - Mar 22 Excellent win - as mentioned by another poster pity we haven't got Forest before Derby as they're in free fall at the moment, this result should give most of the players that extra tad more confidence going into Tuesday nights game. Another interesting point with this sort of midfield line up (which does look more potent from an attacking point of view) or should say from a counter attacking point, Mick can still to a degree rely on his defense and if we don't keep a clean sheet we have more of a chance on the break although again the first goal was again from a dead ball situation. Well done all!

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Ipswich121 added 20:26 - Mar 22 If we'd lost MM would have been slaughtered on here RE Taylor.
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Simonds92 added 20:27 - Mar 22 Good result obviously away from home and it is quite possible that Taylor didn't fit in to the formation mick wanted to play today, however if we had of lost there would be a significant amount of posts on this. I'm not sure I like the bloke as a person, he seems a bit hot headed to be honest, but... For me he is one of the only players we have who can take the game to the opposition drive forward and have people on the edge of their seats. Today he may not have fitted in but in games where we need to take the game to the opposition at home in particular, and not just be set up to not be beaten he is a useful asset and the amount he's brought in and does well only to get dropped again cannot be good for his confidence. Taking nothing away from the result though and well done to all the lads.

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carsey added 20:37 - Mar 22 bluefeast I am with jimmy86 every day of the week regarding Taylor. McCarthy is really missing a trick here. He is clearly a good player and he is ours player so play him. Great win today and one I certainly didn't expect but lets not get carried away. We have Derby to get past on Tuesday evening who are flying since we managed to draw 4 - 4 after leading 4 - 1 at their place and Forest next Saturday who have been on a crap run for a while now so obviously we will go defensive and hold out for a point. I hope I am wrong but I fear I am not.

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brockleyblueboy added 20:46 - Mar 22 Are the BBC trying to tell us something!!! Say it ain't so: Sheffield Wednesday manager Mick McCarthy: "We've still got a chance of the play-offs. We've now got to play Derby and Nottingham Forest and we'll know more by the end of the week. "We did the right things, took our chances and it was a huge win. "It's a difficult place to come. Brighton are a good side in the way they play out from the back and play good football."

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Keaneish added 21:41 - Mar 22 I think Murphy played better against Wigan to be fair Mick. Good result and resolute performance today. No idea how we won that in truth. We have major problems throughout our team. We squandered possession so many times today. A better side would have out us to the sword easily today. One up front doesn't suit us. I said the same last week. Hunt and Anderson aren't being briefed to get by players, they're being asked to tuck in tight and play narrow to allow space for the full backs to get forward but its not giving us the attacking impetus we need and the moves broke down countless times today as a result of this Don't recall Woody making the box once today and surely he's a more attacking threat in front of goal than Hyam? It ain't pretty but its working for us this season although i don't really know how given the lack of goals and creativity in our side now McGoldrick is out and Taylor has been banished. All eyes on the next three games now...

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smithy91 added 22:13 - Mar 22 Didi you watch today Keanish? we had some good spells of passing in this game, and for me Wordsworth was a driving force in the centre, often skipping away from tackles and running forwards, distributing to wings. Sure he wasnt exactly in the box often, but he was an attacking influence. We were counter attacking so it was unikely we would get many midfielders breaking in there often, seemed to be the wingers job today to push on

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gorse added 01:29 - Mar 23 Lolscar Garcia. We scored 3 goals mate (2 given) and you tested Gerks once - thanks to some fantastic defending on our part. (Once we had stopped dicking around with the ball on the edge of our own area...) Was a bit squeaky come about 70 minutes but we largely looked comfortable, and the faithful screamed that second goal in, while the home fans were quiet for the majority. Their biggest gate of the season but "football in a library" indeed. Professional job, well done boys.

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unknown100 added 01:48 - Mar 23 I'm sorry but it's too little too late if you ask me, turning point was drawing 2-2 away and 0-0 with Blackpool, if we had won those like we should have, we would be flying, but now with 10 games to go just isn't going to happen, just had a long look at the table, and beating derby won't change anything and neither will forest now, top 6 have gone, still a great season, it's almost the in between season, McCarthy has come in and set everything back to zero, got a great team work ethic and now he can introduce the skill to start for next year, this may sound harsh but we have been boring and not a skillful team this year but the hard bit is getting the hardwork ands next season looks good :)

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bluefeast added 05:45 - Mar 23 Re Taylor i could name a number of games where Taylor flatters to deceive .QPR is one example , Middlesborough is another. Dont get me wrong i love to see an attack minded player really playing well , but if you have jonny williams able to play for you why would you pick Taylor. They both cant be in the same team away from home. And Williams is a better player than Taylor .

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Stato added 07:00 - Mar 23 I don't get all the Taylor bashing that goes on here. He has 5 MOM awards from our own fans ratings and when you consider how little game time he has had that is an impressive testimony to how well he has done for us.
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bluefeast added 07:23 - Mar 23 I dont think its bashing ,he just divides opinion. For me he is head down ,poor decision making , holds onto ball for to long , poor shot choice. For others they see a sense of urgency , skill , good work rate . He cost us a lot of money , got injured and for what ever reason when fit hardly gets selected. MMs choice on who he picks but clearly every player has to do everything for the best of the team and personally i dont think Taylor does than.

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