Defender Jonas Knudsen joked that he knows his moment to score after netting his second derby goal of the season in yesterday’s 1-1 draw against Norwich City at Carrow Road. The Danish international’s only other goal this season came in the 1-1 draw with the Canaries at Portman Road in August.

“It’s brilliant, an important goal to score in a derby,” the 24-year-old enthused after his header had ended a 27-pass Town move to open the scoring in the 63rd minute.

“We talked about it the other day, that I’d have to score again. I think I know my moment when I have to score goals!”

Knudsen’s goal owed much to right wing-back Jordan Spence’s deep cross in from the right.

“It was a brilliant ball and I took a chance,” the former Esbjerg fB man added. “I saw the ball coming in, I thought it was a good situation for me and I went through. It wasn’t the easiest ball to head in but I did it and it was nice. And you saw the fans, how important it was for them.”

He says he loved celebrating with the 2,000-strong Town support: “I enjoyed it so much, that’s what football’s about, this game is what’s football’s about, what we love.

“I think the fans love it and we love it and I think everybody loves it. This is how a football game has to be, the atmosphere and everything up to the game, after the game, in the game.

“I scored a goal like that and celebrate with the fans. That’s so nice. It can’t be better and could do that all day long.”

Knudsen says some of his friends made the trip from Denmark to watch the match: “I have three of my best mates over and my girlfriend was over to watch it and it was brilliant.

“And it was on telly in Denmark, which was nice so my family could watch it. I’ve got some messages from them and they enjoyed it. We'll take the point but when you’re 1-0 up you want to win.”

The defender, who started as one of Town's three centre-halves before switching to left wing-back, admits it was disappointing that Norwich equalised his goal only six minutes later.

“You saw in the first half we were a little bit on the back foot against Norwich and they were a little bit more aggressive than us but I think we came out in the second half better,” he continued.

“Of course, they had some chances but there will always be chances in a game and when you go 1-0 up you want to keep the lead and get a win

“You have to be tough and stay with it, but we take the point out of it. We’re away from home, we’re playing a derby and I think a draw was fair.”

Knudsen enjoyed the derby atmosphere: “I thought it was a great, I think it’s a nice stadium, a full stadium. It’s what we’re playing for, these kinds of game. This is the atmosphere you want to play in every time because that’s how it should be.

“I think our fans were brilliant today and I think also the Norwich fans were good, so you have to say it was a good atmosphere and I enjoyed it so much.”

Regarding keeper Bartosz Bialkowski, who made a string of saves, including a first-half stop which prevent Knudsen from scoring at the wrong end, the grateful defender said: “He was brilliant. He has done great this year, he’s had a great season and I hope he will keep on keeping consistent. Now it looks like the team is also going to be a little more consistent.”

Reflecting on Town’s unbeaten five-game February against some of the division’s toughest sides, he added: “Because we weren’t in a good run before I think people started talking about needing the fans behind us. But I think we did it together and the fans were behind us.

“We started playing well and the results have been great and our football has been great. I think we have played a little bit more and the system suits us. That’s great.

“It’s a tough league and everybody can beat everybody and you can see that. Look at the table before these games, we have taken seven points out of them and we’ve been unbeaten for the last five games, which is very nice."

Having come through that difficult February Knudsen says Town can’t now let up in what look on paper to be less daunting fixtures with visits from Brentford and Wolves up next.

“You have to be 100 per cent and I think we’ve been 100 per cent, 110 per cent in the last few games because we knew they were big games, big crowds we have to play for, big teams,” the man known as 'Mad Dog' to his team-mates said.

“But we stand up against these teams and maybe the next couple of games are against teams with not the same squads but if you are at only 90 per cent, 95 then you can get in trouble.

“You have to be 100 per cent and go into the game like we’ve done in the last few weeks because if you don’t do that we’ll be in trouble.

“If we keep on going like we have done in the last few weeks, I think we’ll definitely pick some points up. We have to stick together and keep going like we have done.”

Norwich's goalscorer Jacob Murphy claimed he exploited a weakness in Blues keeper Bialkowski's game.

"I'd watched the goals from the previous games and Nathan [Redmond] scored a similar one two seasons ago at his near post," he said.

"So I knew that he would be vulnerable there. That was the thought process with that. You've got to exploit weaknesses."

Photo: TWTD

osborne added 06:32 - Feb 27 Well done Mad Dog. Keep it up. It's goals like that which lead to legendary status!
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blue75 added 07:02 - Feb 27 Good goal, good performance keep that up and you'll win the boo boys round!!!
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hoppy added 07:27 - Feb 27 Jonas Knudsen is a blue, he hates Norwich...
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martin587 added 07:35 - Feb 27 Well done,in the right place at the right time,but don't just save your goals for Norwich.!!👍🤔.Also must give credit for a perfect cross.!👍.
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Mark added 07:44 - Feb 27 Absolute joy when that went in, such a relief given the pressure of the occasion and the knowledge of how this really messed up Norwich as it made it unlikely the canaries could win the match from that point and so it proved. I bet Norwich were sitting there 2-1 up to Newcastle with a few minutes to go thinking they were looking at 9 points in that one, Burton away and Ipswich home. It turned out they got only 2 points. Hahaha.

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cat added 08:01 - Feb 27 Anyone who scores twice against Norwich in a season should be catapaulted to legendary statues. On a serious note though, as I stated yesterday Knudsen has won me over by the fact he can actually play football, composed on ball, sweet left foot and a great attitude.
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BotesdaleBlue added 08:12 - Feb 27 Well done Jonas. You certainly show some passion and that goes a long way with us fans. As Mark says, this is another spanner in the Canary play off push and that, for me, is the one massive bonus from the draw.
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bucket99 added 08:48 - Feb 27 Fair play to Mick McCarthy for making the change. He put Tommy Smith on as the left-sided centre-half, and that freed up Jonas to revert to a more attacking left wing-back role. It only took a couple of minutes, and there he was doing the Chambo blind-side run and attacking the far post. Nice goal!
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ipswichben added 09:04 - Feb 27 Very well taken goal after a 27 PASS move. I didn't see that mentioned on Sky. Full credit to all players and fans yesterday. As mentioned before, the best part of the day is knowing the inbreeds are extremely up against it in the play off race now.
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paddypowell added 09:14 - Feb 27 gd point well done. but wot about the stonewall penalty the tv pundits said the ref never saw the incident if so how did he see it was a fowl by didzi
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wherescounago added 09:34 - Feb 27 Good result, good attitude from Mad Dog, the new Canary Crusher and a good cross and goal. I thought the Murphy Twins looked good for them but then it was explained by the commentator later in the game that they are Tommy Parkin's Nephews!! Shame he couldn't persuade them to come here. Onwards and upwards for us, mid table mediocrity for them I suspect.
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Pilgrimblue added 09:43 - Feb 27 the free kick given against Didzy was outrageous. If as the so called experts said the ref didn't see it, how could he possibly award a free kick to Naarwich?? Ref needs to answer that! We never get a fair crack ie Douglas goal ruled out, red card n 5-1 defeat, plus lots of others. Maybe we don't protest enough but then then when we do Tom gets cautioned and misses vital match.

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MathieandMarshall added 12:27 - Feb 27 Interesting comment from Murphy on Barts weakness at his near post! - Bart has been outstanding for us for some time now and pulled off some great stops again winning MOTM however i'd like to think our goalkeeper coach would spot areas of weakness and work on them if opposition players have noted them?
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Seasider added 16:08 - Feb 27 Always thought Jonas was a nice lad;but until recently hadn't been too enamoured with some of his displays at left back.However this system seems to suit not just him,but most of the players. Scoring against Norwich twice,and the spontaneous running over to the fans will adhere him to the supporters.This in turn will give him more confidence and enhance his performances. Well done young man.

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happybeingblue added 17:21 - Feb 27 I do like young Jonas and listening to his interviews is great, hoping he can get to HERMANN status , keep it up JK
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Pilgrimblue added 17:53 - Feb 27 Oh and lets hope he has plenty more moments when he'll score. Love is energy and determonation
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carlo88 added 17:54 - Feb 27 I think our carrot-crunching friend Mr Murphy should concentrate on his own weakness at marking full backs before he picks any holes in our esteemed goalkeeper.
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ITFCRealist added 22:47 - Feb 27 Still a shte player though, who should be sold at the first oppprtunity. Just a Dinosaur favorutire like Skuglas and Chambers. So he got lucky, he is not good enough to wear the shirt like most of our players these days.
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tempzzzz added 13:50 - Mar 1 @ITFCRealist, you're living in the past mate. Some of the players have improved, I agree more funding is required from ME to improve the squad but what we have at the minute isn't too bad. Douglas has been dropped, seems for good now which is fantastic, Chambers is playing well in the correct position, the loan signings are looking good and with Danny Rowe training well I think we are OK. The formation Mick has changed to seems much better as well, just need to drop Skuse for the lad from Leeds (can't spell his name lol) I'm first to take a dig at Mick and I still think we need to weigh up potential replacements in the summer but for now we have to make do with what we've got. Well done Jonas, great goal, great build up play and a great attitude to scoring against the scum! Top lad!

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