Penalty hero Christian Walton hailed his Ipswich Town record breakers after a professional 2-0 win at Bolton saw them close the gap to second place Plymouth.

A cagey first half ended with George Hirst brilliantly scoring his first league goal for Ipswich, volleying in Wes Burns’s cross from the edge of the area.

The travelling Town fans then went from disappointment to delirium five minutes after the restart when Walton saved Dion Charles’s penalty low down to his left.

A body blow for Bolton, the save galvanised Ipswich to even greater heights and they deservedly grabbed a crucial second when Cameron Burgess headed home from a corner.

As Ipswich comfortably held on to three impressive points, Walton was left to reflect on his sixth clean sheet in a row and 596 minutes of football without conceding a goal — both new club records.

The keeper said: “It’s brilliant to make that record, but it is not just myself. It is the lads in front of me and it starts at the top end of the pitch, especially the way the manager wants us to play with a high press and regaining that ball quick.

“It all helps keep the clean sheets. We are on a good run of those and a good run of wins. But it is a crucial period of the season where we need to keep that consistency going into the end of this month and into April.”

Walton revealed he once enjoyed an even longer run of clean sheets, with Wigan in League One, but conceded “he didn’t have loads to do” at that time.

It was different yesterday as Walton made crucial blocks, either side of the penalty save, and he even made a strong block with his legs as Burgess made the challenge which conceded the penalty.

Reflecting on the game and his performance, he said: “It’s a really good atmosphere in the dressing room. Obviously, it was a tough away fixture and probably not the most pleasing game on the eye at times.

“Both teams wanted to win the game and both teams had quality on the pitch. So to get the goal, at the time we did, I think was crucial.

“It’s obviously a good time to score, just before half-time. And then second half, we had to defend our box well and we came up against it at times.

“But compared to at the start of the season when we had challenges like that, I think you could see the growth we have made with managing games and dealing with different things.

“It can be tough when you do miss a penalty, you look at us when we missed a penalty at home to Sheffield Wednesday and we are 2-0 down in the space of 10 minutes.

“It gave our whole team a lift and obviously a dampen on them. So saving a penalty is a big thing and I want to produce really big saves for the team, and make big contributions, and I guess I did that today.

“I’ve obviously watched a lot of his penalties in the build-up to the game, as I do with every team, and he’s opened up and I was able to save it.

“I think the save before the penalty, people probably didn’t see it because it was carnage and the ref has blown for a penalty. But that save was probably the most pleasing, but he’s blown. It’s obviously nice to make the penalty save.”

Barnsley’s impressive 3-0 win over second place Plymouth saw Ipswich reduce the gap to just two points, although the fourth-placed Tykes also remain well and truly in the automatic promotion hunt.

Walton said: “Plymouth losing definitely changes the narrative in the way people see it. It’s a long season and there is still quite a way to go with a lot of points to play for. Teams have games in hand, it’s a mad league and we need to be ready for that.”

The keeper revealed he went through a spell this season of being disappointed in his own form, admitting: “It can be difficult. I’ve played a lot of football now for my age as a goalkeeper and I’ve experienced the ups, the downs, the criticism, the praise.

“This year, there was probably a period when I wasn’t as happy with my performances and I wasn’t keeping clean sheets. That wasn’t just down to me with balls flying in off deflections.

“It’s hard to have an impact when things aren’t going your way. But the thing is never to get too high or too low. I think the manager basically manages that and it has a knock-on effect through the team to keep that level.

“I think clean sheets is a big thing, Bolton have kept a lot of clean sheets and you can see how well they have done this year. It gives the club and the team a big platform to build on to go up the other end and score, if we are nice and solid at the back.

“Obviously, we are going to come up against challenges and good opposition, as we did today. So today’s clean sheet was probably the best one we have had, in terms of opposition and where they are in the league.”

He added: “It’s a big win. Sometimes you go through spells when the luck is against you and refs aren’t making decisions your way and we’ve had that this year.

“It’s making sure you are aware of that, like when things are going for you. Hopefully we can now keep going and make our own luck.”

With eighth-placed Shrewsbury heading to Portman Road on Saturday, Walton believes a week on the training ground is ideal preparation.

He said: “It will be another big week in training. A full week to prepare, which is always good, and there is a lot of competition for places at the club.

“So it will be good for some of the other lads who haven’t played as many minutes to get a full week of training and be ready to contribute for next Saturday.”

Photos: TWTD/PagePix

Suffolkboy added 10:31 - Mar 12 Epitomises the current team ethic ,and the honest thrill of performing within a group who literally are finding their feet together on the pitch and giving supporters much to happily reflect upon ! His contribution is vital ,complementing the outstanding goals at Bolton . COYB
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Linkboy13 added 12:18 - Mar 12 Had to laugh on here month ago when people were saying Walton should be dropped for making what were minor errors and knew there was no way McKenna was going to drop him. In my experience of playing defenders have a big say in who they would like behind them in goal. Hladky is a very good keeper but doesn't dominate the penalty area as well as Walton and this makes defenders nervous.

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FlyingReuser added 14:23 - Mar 12 Congrats on the clean sheet record! Top goalscorers in the league and we certainly know how to defend as a team. Also the penalty save from Dion “I don't miss penalties” was a pivotal moment from Walton yesterday. COYBS!
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Bazza8564 added 15:23 - Mar 13 The team have something special to protect, obviously the longer they can build that run, the longer our winning run can continue, so its 100% clear why it means so much to them all. COYB
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