Town defender Jacob Greaves admitted he was delighted for teammates Sindre Walle Egeli and George Hirst, who both ended their respective goal droughts during the Blues’ 2-0 victory over Watford on Tuesday.

A goal in each half at Vicarage Road was enough for Town to return to winning ways on the road, having lost three of their previous four matches on their travels.

Walle Egeli returned to the Blues’ starting XI and struck the opener when he expertly struck a bouncing volley beyond compatriot Egil Selvik after Marcelino Núñez’s free-kick had deflected off the wall.

It was the teenager’s third goal for the club and first since early December when he found the net in consecutive matches against Blackburn Rovers and Coventry City.

“Two of the lads that probably needed a little bit of a pick-me-up goal, and fair play to both of them,” Greaves said. “You can see how much it meant to both of them in their celebrations.

“I’m absolutely delighted for both of them because they’ve both been working so hard. Fair play to Sindre, I thought it was a great finish and now hopefully he can kick on because he’s an unbelievable player and so is George.”

Hirst had also not scored since Town’s home victory over league leaders Coventry, going nine matches without a goal during a period where he also spent a few weeks out with a minor groin strain.

Greaves, who provided the assist for Hirst’s improvised finish from close range, said: “He couldn’t really miss, to be honest. I don’t think he knew too much about it and it just comes straight off his chest into the goal. Fair play to him.

“He would probably say himself that he’s not been on the best run ever in terms of goalscoring, but as a striker sometimes you go through them and you’ve got to back your qualities which he’s got.

“That goal will do him the world of good, and the goal that Iván [Azón] got last week will do him the world of good. Hopefully now we’ve got two strikers that are firing, and Chuba as well, probably one of the best strikers that the Championship has had. It’s good to have them three all ready to go.

“Iván scored last week and Hirsty scored this week, so [hopefully] we can get them firing and scoring goals.

“There’s other parts of the game that’s important as well. Obviously they want to score goals, but they’ve got to help in other ways. Iván did really well running the channels, doing the dogged side of the game, going up for headers with their big centre-halves, and giving us a bit of a platform to get up the pitch. I thought he did really well.”

At the other end of the pitch, Greaves certainly played his part in contributing to the Blues’ 11th Championship clean sheet of the season.

Goalkeeper Christian Walton earned his 50th shutout for the club, and needed to keep out Tom Ince’s late penalty to ensure there would not be a grandstand finish on the night.

Greaves said: “Needed. We conceded against Wrexham and Preston. I think we had the best defence in the league before the Wrexham game, obviously conceded five which was disappointing so I’m not sure where we’re at.

“It’s something to build on going into three home games on the bounce, so we’re going to need the support that we had tonight.

“They’ve stuck with us. I know it’s been a topsy-turvy last couple of weeks but sometimes it’s going to happen in a season. I understand the frustration, but let’s stick together and see what we can do.”

That run of matches on home soil begins with the visit of Swansea City on Saturday, who make the long trip to Suffolk off the back of three wins in their last five.

Each of Town’s last four fixtures in all competitions have come away from home, so Greaves is particularly looking forward to getting back to Portman Road for the first time in almost a month.

“All the travel has been quite a lot, to be honest,” he said. “I quite enjoy the travel with the lads anyway, it’s been really enjoyable and the new lads have been great as well.

“We’ve got such a good group, a group of lads that really want to fight for each other and give everything we can on the pitch. Last week was not like us at all, but hopefully it’s one we can learn from going forward.

“Having three home games where we’ve been so strong at home, so hopefully we can carry on that form with the next three games coming up.

“No doubt other teams will have tough fixtures as well, but every team is fighting for something in the Championship bar Sheffield Wednesday. We’ve still got to play them away from home, but they’ve got good players and every game in the Championship is going to be tough.

“We’ve just got to keep our feet on the ground and keep moving forward. Every game’s a different tactical challenge so we’re looking forward to the run-in now.”

Photo: Matchday Images