Striker Kayden Jackson felt the Blues’ 4-1 victory over Accrington Stanley at Portman Road on Saturday was the best win of the season having ended Town’s frustrating winless run.

Prior to the comfortable defeat of Stanley Town had gone eight League One games without a victory and had failed to win any of their last 12 in all competitions over 90 minutes.

Jackson, who netted the game’s opening goal against his old club after 12 minutes to set Town on the way to their win, said the result and the display were just what was required.

“Definitely, we needed to get back to winning ways as soon as possible and to put in a performance like that and have a scoreline like that is what we’ve been working hard for and thankfully everything came together today,” he said.

“We’ve not had a lot of chances in the last few weeks. We’ve not given the fans a lot to cheer about to be fair and today I’m just glad we were able to do that and get a win.”

Regarding his goal, his eighth of the season but his first in 13 appearances, the 25-year-old had praise for centre-half Luke Woolfenden, who overlapped on the left and cut the ball across for him to turn home.

“I think it’s massive when you’ve got someone like Woolfy who knows where to put the ball when he’s in that area,” he said.

“There have been a couple of times this season where we’ve been wasteful as a team, myself included, where we’ve got into good positions but not chosen the right ball or chosen the right pass.

“I think being a striker you know there are certain areas you need to cover and that’s one of them where you can get a tap-in. I’m just glad that he pulled it across.”

Woolfenden and skipper Luke Chambers pushing forward from the back three was a prominent aspect of the first-half display.

“It helps as a striker when we’re getting more bodies forward,” he said.

“Today I think we had Judgey, Gwion, Garbs, Skip, Woolfy at times, freeing up space, pulling their defenders about which helps us striker on the other side. Just glad to get the win and obviously the goals as well.”

He says the centre-halves overlapping Sheffield United style - notably manager Paul Lambert was at Bramall Lane to watch last Sunday’s Blades-AFC Fylde FA Cup tie - was something which had been worked on on the training field.

“When you go for a run like we did, you need to work on stuff and work on the way that you’re going to play, tinker with things every now and again, change things up.

“And we showed that we can do that today and showed that we can get bodies forward, whether that’s from centre-half, the number 10 position, from wing-back. It’s just important that we’ve got someone getting forward, bodies getting forward.

“And most importantly being strong at the back, which I think we were as well. Obviously it was disappointing to concede the penalty. But I think it was a strong performance all around to be fair.”

He says his goal celebration was aimed at his son Arlo, who was born in late November and was at the ground and witnessed his father finding the net for the first time.

“My little boy was here, I think it was his second or third time [at Portman Road] and I’m glad I was able to score because he probably wouldn’t want to come back again if I didn’t!” he laughed.

“Obviously that one was for him. It was just his initial, it was just something I thought would be nice and whenever he comes I’ll do it. Hopefully I’ll be able to score a few more for him.

“But most importantly, we got the win and the three points that we needed to look to build on now, hopefully put the bad run behind us and get a few more wins.”

Jackson was also pleased for strike partner James Norwood, who netted his 10th of the campaign.

“It’s good for our strikers that people are getting forward and playing balls like Ems [Emyr Huws] did for him.

“We’ve had a tough few weeks where we’ve been running and working hard for the team but maybe not getting our rewards for it.

“Today it’s obviously good for us both to get on the scoresheet and even Keano coming off the bench and scoring again. Long may that continue and we’ll keep working hard to get the wins.”

In addition to the three strikers scoring Alan Judge netted his first league goal of the club having said prior to tha match that he would find the target sooner or later if he continued in the number 10 role.

“I think most importantly it’s not time for us to talk, it’s time for us go out there and show what we can do and maybe do our talking with our feet,” Jackson added.

“I think we did that today and hopefully we can keep going and long may it continue that we put in performances like that and get wins most importantly.”

Asked whether the display was the Blues best of the season, he reflected: “Yes, I think possibly. Most importantly it’s another three points and it’s probably the best win of the season because we’ve got out of the run. We’re hoping to put that behind us now and kick on from here.”

The Bradford-born frontman says that win now needs to become two, three and more: “One hundred per cent. I think momentum is massive. Now hopefully we’ve got that momentum, we took it a bit from Wycombe on New Year’s Day when we did well and probably deserved a win [rather than draw 1-1] but didn’t quite get it. We’ve taken that from there.

“Obviously had the setback at Exeter [last week's 2-1 Leasing.com Trophy defeat] which was disappointing again but even then we deserved to win the game. We’ve just been staying positive, as you have to when you want to get promoted.

“I did the same at Accrington, we went through a little bit of a bad run but as long as you positive within the camp, you always get out of them and you always end up picking up the results you need. We’ll just stay positive and keep working on the way we want to play and hopefully the wins will come.”

He added: “We were strong all over the pitch. That’s what we need to be. We can’t have five or six playing well and the rest not, the whole XI, even the subs that get on, everyone needs to be at the top of their game and we were today.”

Looking ahead to Tuesday’s trip to fifth-placed Oxford, who were beaten 3-1 at home by new leaders Rotherham on Saturday, Jackson said: “They’re a good side, as many are in League One. It’ll probably be a tough game but we’ll go there with the confidence from today and hopefully we’ll get another win.

“I think we’ll always back ourselves, especially when we play like we did today. We’ve got the personnel, we’ve got the style of football when we put it together like that, we can hurt anyone, so we’ll be confident going into Tuesday and will get another win.”

Photo: TWTD

Steve_M added 17:57 - Jan 12 I thought Jackson was very good yesterday, worked hard and delivered good balls from wide positions. If only he had a better first touch and more composed finishing, but then he would be too good for us.
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Saxonblue74 added 18:09 - Jan 12 Good stuff Kayden, always working hard for the team. Great win but won't count for a lot if we can't follow it up with more points and performances. Onwards and upwards hopefully!
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Suffolkboy added 18:30 - Jan 12 It did look as if energy,commitment and enthusiasm were demonstrated throughout the team and all over the pitch !Moreover there was greater evidence of composure and steady judgement about the way each of the goals was taken ; AJ seemed to pick his spot ,KJ and JN opportunistic but determined ,and WK a superbly judged angle and delivery ! Very very encouraging ,let's see some more ,please COYB

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Dissboyitfc added 19:02 - Jan 12 yes it was and by a long way!
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Mark added 19:19 - Jan 12 I think it if we stick to the same team and formation for the rest of the season we will win the majority of the matches. Hopefully our bad spell is behind us now and we can march onto promotion.
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blueboy1981 added 19:32 - Jan 12 Round pegs in round holes gets the best from every player, and thus the team. The absence of that, and ridiculous rotation has been our undoing over the past winless run - this squad is more than just capable, but is the Manager capable of getting the best out of it by the end of the season. No need to question the players ability, its there, but effort has to compliment that. Yesterday it was there, when the pegs were in the right holes ....... !!!

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Linkboy13 added 23:47 - Jan 12 Jackson seems to get his fair share of criticism but you cant fault his work rate if he was perfect he wouldn't be playing in this league. Same with Norwood scored a good goal yesterday but he needs 3 chances to score 1 but gets no where near the criticism that Jackson gets .
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Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 06:46 - Jan 13 Pleased with the performance and generally agree with the need for a more settled side, but we'll need a bit of flexibility if we are going to get Freddie & Teddy back in action - not wholesale changes, though.
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dangerous30 added 06:56 - Jan 13 I hope the team is the same for the next match and we don't have 5 or 6 changers.
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stewartm added 07:09 - Jan 13 Savour the moment you will probably be on the bench next game
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dirtydingusmagee added 09:10 - Jan 13 it was a good result, and thankfully broke a bad run, it should have boosted players confidence, but it was against o lowly team we would normally expect to beat [rightly or wrongly its just my opinion.The BIG games are coming up, we really NEED to beat Oxford, we are in a bunch of teams now and need to break them , A good team effort should do it ,but we need now to go for it .

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brittaniaman added 09:56 - Jan 13 The way the team played Sat. we do not need any Reinforcements, especially with the guys coming back from injury Kane, Sears, Lancaster, for example and Rowe not to be forgotten ? I noticed on the back of the program Accrington had a larger squad than us.
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Razor added 10:40 - Jan 13 Jacko must be the fittest and quickest player at the club. Lets not get too carried yet though----tomorrow is the acid test.
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norfolkbluey added 10:49 - Jan 13 Blueboy 81 spot on. PL changing tactics and taking tips from Sheffield's play. Now there's a positive. It has worked wonders so perhaps a steady team selection and pouring players forward can be a formula for further success. Well done all. COYBs
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