Goalscoring debutant striker Joe Garner was delighted that the Blues got their season off to a winning start via Saturday’s 1-0 home victory over Birmingham City, particularly after last week’s 6-1 friendly hammering away against League One Charlton.

“As a striker it’s always nice to score goals but we are a team and it was good to get the win,” Garner said reflecting on his 50th minute winner.

“It was a great cross [from Jonas Knudsen] and I was glad to get on the end of it and score.”

The Blackburn-born frontman says the squad discussed the Valley defeat in the build-up to Saturday’s match.

“We spoke about that loss during training in the week, but it was important to remember that was pre-season and this was now,” he added. “We reacted well and that’s all credit to the gaffer and the lads.”

What’s feared to be a cruciate knee ligament injury suffered by 18-year-old midfielder Andre Dozzell cast a shadow over an otherwise excellent afternoon for the Blues and their fans.

“Dozzell's injury looks bad he will have scan and I hope he is OK,” Garner continued. “He is young and will come back strong. He and Flynn Downes are really good players with bright futures.”

After spending a year playing for Rangers in the Scottish Premiership having previously played in the Championship with Preston and Nottingham Forest, which does the 29-year-old believe is the higher standard?

“It’s all football,” he said diplomatically. “People say the standard of football is better here, others say it is better up there, but that’s not an argument for me to get into.

“I’m just happy to score and that we won. To win the first game at home was important, everyone goes home happy.”

Birmingham defender Marc Roberts says the visitors took a number of pluses from the match despite the defeat.

“We came here to win, as we will every game because the manager wants us to go out and try and win every game,” he said.

“We took a lot of positives out of the game, especially the first hour when we played well and looked solid.

“We missed a couple of chances and in this league it is going to hurt. Up until their goal Ipswich didn’t really have any chances but took the one they got.

“It is fine margins if David Davis had scored that goal [with the chance just prior to Garner’s goal] it could have been a very different game and we could have run out as winners. We need to pick ourselves up. It is a long old season.”

Photo: TWTD

wkj added 06:30 - Aug 7 Love a good debut goal - Well taken strike and a lovely move from the left wing - Glad to have you Garner
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Bluebell added 08:06 - Aug 7 Fantastic goal and great win. I can see he is going to become a fan's favourite. Amazed me that he was playing against 2 defenders who were both 6ft 2in and he was getting his head to all the balls.
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Sam added 08:33 - Aug 7 He's a very talented footballer and took a cracking goal on Saturday. Hopefully we'll carry on as we did against Birmingham. Also, I'll eat myself if he gets less than 10 goals.
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bedsitfc added 09:02 - Aug 7 I have a concern!!! Garner came from rangers were he didn't light the place up. Is that because he didn't settle up there or was it being to similar to another of their forwards? With waghorn coming through the door from rangers could it knock his confidence??? Not saying it will but I just don't know. Hope not.
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PortmanTerrorist added 10:24 - Aug 7 Never n=mind the finish, it seems like Garner has turned Knuds into a half decent crosser of the ball. Knuds actually put 2 decent crosses in on Sat.....matches the total since Xmas i imagine ! In all seriousness, Graner and Waghorn are both no nonsense players who won't accept teammates coasting or slapping crosses into row Z. Might also be part of the reason Skuse had (IMO) his most dynamic and effective game of his ITFC career.

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blockb_steward added 12:11 - Aug 7 Garner was most definitely a highlight on Saturday - as was Dozzell until he was unfortunately injured. I think Garner has potential to be a seriously good signing by Mick Mac - let's be honest Mick can find them when he needs to.
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