Town boss Kieran McKenna hailed the Blues’ 2-1 victory at Derby as probably his favourite win of the season with his side showing all the aspects required.

Leif Davis headed the winning goal 13 minutes from the end, Rhian Brewster’s 68th-minute penalty having levelled for the Rams after former Town loanee Lewis Travis had headed an eighth-minute own goal to give his old side the lead. Travis, who was skippering the Rams, was sent off for a second bookable offence in injury time.

“I really enjoyed it, I have to say,” McKenna said of the Blues’ fifth away success of the campaign. ”I think maybe my favourite win of the season.

“They’re all three points but considering we’ve had a 5-0, some 4-1s and we won the East Anglian derby for the first time, I really enjoyed today.

“All the aspects, I think. We played really well at times. Started the game really well. Brave, played really good football, the goal was, of course, not from that but we could have been two or three-up probably with some of the moves that we put together early on.

“Had to handle the chaos sometimes of set plays and a vociferous home crowd and balls in the air and balls bouncing around and had to stand up to that well, which we did.

“Didn’t manage to get the second goal, which was probably the bit that we needed to really take control of the game.

“But didn’t look like conceding and then had the setback of giving away a really poor penalty, really. That would have been gutting for Azor [Matusiwa] and gutting for the team if that had cost us.

“The reaction from there, the way we got straight back to taking a foothold in the game, the subs had a big impact, a brilliant winning goal and really good game management to see the game out.

“There was loads in there today, loads that we’re going to need to show, but some really good things in it which makes it a really good win.”

Regarding Davis’s winner, the left-back heading powerfully home after Anis Mehmeti and Kasey McAteer had exchanged passes on the right, McKenna added: “I loved the goal. It was a long passage of possession anyway before that, which was what we needed to do to calm the game down again.

“And then Anisloses the ball but his counter-pressure was brilliant, which it has been since he came in the door, his reaction is so good that he wins it back straight away.

“Loved the little relationship between him and Kasey, two new teammates, but understanding what each other wanted.

“A great ball from Kasey, we had good bodies in the box, Chuba [Akpom] and Hirsty [George Hirst] are both in there, which was how we wanted to chase the game. They brought all the defenders underneath it and Leif came round the back post with a big header. A brilliant goal to win the game.”

McKenna is delighted with the way Mehmeti, a £3 million signing from Bristol City a fortnight ago, has started his Town career.

“I think he’s an outstanding player,” the Blues boss enthused. “And as a person, his hunger to improve, to come in, to soak up absolutely everything that he can coming into a new club, a club in a different dimension to where he’s been since his career started.

“And he’s just soaking it all up, wanting to learn and wanting to show what he can do, but helping everyone else.

“A really, really good impact to come into the team and play like he has and give what he’s given and we’re enjoying working with him.”

The Blues manager was similarly pleased for McAteer, whose cross for the goal was his first assist since joining Town for £11.5 million in the summer.

“A really good moment for him,” McKenna continued. “Goals and assists, we always say Kasey could probably have had four or five assists this year, he’s put in some great crosses.

“But for a player to have the assist for a winning goal away from home like that is a great feeling.

“I said it the other day, and I wasn’t saying it loosely, he’s been showing some great signs and usually it works that way and it’s a good lesson for the group and for other players.

“It doesn’t usually come out on the match pitch before it comes out in training and he’s been training better and better as the previous weeks have been going by and showing really good signs.

“And that gives you the confidence to step on the pitch knowing that your rhythm is really coming and he produced a great moment, and his defensive work was top to help us win the game as well. A really good day for him.”

Asked how significant a victory today’s could be as the Blues continue their promotion push and whether it’s a platform from which to kick on, McKenna said: “I don’t think we ever look at it massively like that because the ebbs and flows are so big.

“I’ve been asked so many times since the game finished about our great form. And if we hadn’t have won today it would have been terrible form and the margins are so tight.

“I’ve said all along that the group generally is improving, we have to go through some things as a group to be the team that we want to be and we’ve been through some of that and we have to keep taking the lessons and keep trying to improve and go to the next game.

“I said it after the Preston game last weekend, I thought the last 20 minutes was a big step for the group. We didn’t get a win but that’s a little lesson along the way, the way we chased that game down and, for me, should have had a late winner. That’s a step.

“Today’s a step in terms of all the things that we mentioned but in terms of the league and a platform, it’s three points and 16 games left. They’re all going to be tough, so we take the lessons from today.

“Of course, the three points are important and we know we’ve got some really, really tough games coming up and an incredible schedule really, so it’s going to take a lot, but we showed a lot of good things today.”

Wes Burns came off in the second half with an injury but McKenna wasn’t sure of the severity.

“We’ll check how he is,” he said. “He was holding his groin as he came off. It looked like he was walking pretty freely, so that’s a good sign, but we’ll have to assess what damage there is there.”

Akpom came on as a sub on the left of the attack for the first time and had some threatening moments, most notably when sent away by debutant Dan Neil and forcing home keeper Josh Vickers into a save.

“We know Chuba can play the different roles across the front and he’s been training there this week in the last few days in training and showing some really good things,” McKenna explained.

“Of course, we have some really good players on the left already, but he’s a little bit different in terms of more of a second striker, can give another presence in the box coming in behind the main striker and it’s a role that we think he can do well for us well.

“Having that versatility is really important in the group in quite a lot of different players. Chuba’s one of them and I thought he had a good impact today.”

Photo: TWTD