Town striker George Hirst believes the Blues dealt with the occasion better than Norwich City during this afternoon’s 2-0 victory in the East Anglian derby at Carrow Road.

Hirst was among the scorers as Kieran McKenna’s side celebrated a first victory on Norfolk soil since 2006 and a first league double over the Canaries since 1992/93.

The result keeps Town second in the Championship table, with a maximum of 11 points required in the final six matches to guarantee an immediate return to the Premier League.

Despite the significance surrounding the league position, Hirst says the game was all about the occasion and agreed that the Blues came out on top in that regard.

“I think we did on the whole,” he said. “The second half got a little bit sketchy at times, but I think it can get like that. It’s a massive fixture in this part of the country so it’s something that can happen. On the whole, we kept our heads pretty well.

“It’s down to us, we can be whatever team we want to be. On days like today where you know the reception is going to be hostile, we’ve had that pressure all season in a sense of being the team that everybody wants to beat, and we always play against the best version of any team we play against.

“Coming out to pressure is not something that’s new to us as a group. It’s something that we’ve so far dealt with really well, and today was another chance to go and deal with that and show just how far we’ve come as a group.

“When you get the result and the way we played, I thought we handled that brilliantly.”

The common mantra among the squad has been to take each game as it comes and treat all matches with equal importance.

However, Hirst admitted that the feeling around an East Anglian derby was understandably unique, with the fixture having more significance than others among the Town supporters.

He said: “We didn’t come into it thinking it’s just another game because that’s naive to think like that.

“You want to treat it like another game in the sense of your build-up and preparation, but you know as a player when you step out there and come out for the warm-up with the atmosphere and the chants you’re getting, you get the sense it’s not just another game and you know it’s a derby game. For us to go out there and win that and give the fans something to cheer about was massive for us.

“It’s a typical derby game. At times, tactics and patterns of play go out the window a little bit, and it’s about knuckling down and fighting for that result. Fighting for the fans, fighting for the club, and putting on the best version of yourself.

“It’s not always going to be pretty, but if you can come to places like this on days where it’s not so pretty and come away with the result, that stands you in pretty good stead.”

Hirst’s goal took him onto 10 for the season when he volleyed past Vladan Kovačević just before half-time to double the Blues’ lead.

“It was brilliant,” the 27-year-old said. “A lot of fans behind the goal went quiet because I had missed one 30 seconds prior and they were all giving me a little bit. It was quite nice to hear a pin drop at that particular moment.

“It’s the life of a striker as I’ve said a million times before, you miss the one before and it’s easy to put your head down and sulk about it. It’s about getting ready and trusting that the team that are playing are going to create plenty of chances, and putting myself in the position to get the next one.

“It’s not always been the case, it can be pretty hard at times. On a day like today, you don’t know how many chances you’re going to get because of the way the game is. For me, it was about putting myself in the position and finding space in the box.

“From Darnell [Furlong]’s long throw, it ended up dropping to me and it was just being calm, clear, and having that clarity in my head of what I want to do with it and putting the ball in the back of the net.”

Hirst appeared to be the first in line to take the penalty after 11 minutes, before giving the ball to teammate Jaden Philogene, who rolled into the bottom corner for his first away goal of the campaign.

The Scotland striker revealed the thinking behind who would take a spot kick if the Blues were to be awarded one.

“I wanted to take the penalty, I’m not going to lie about that,” he said. “Jaden came to me straight away and said ‘I really, really fancy it’. Fine.

“As players, that’s not something that’s written on the board of ‘he’s the penalty taker, he’s not’. If you really fancy it, go ahead.

“I’m a big believer in good karma. I had the ball in my hand, I let Jaden take the penalty and he scores and I get my chance a little bit later. We came away with the result and that’s all that matters.

“It was massive for us. We knew exactly what it meant to the fans today. We knew the history behind this fixture and how long it has been since not only we’ve beaten them here, but beaten them twice in a season. I don’t think they’ll have too much to chant about now.”

Hirst added: “We knew it was going to be high intensity, we knew it was going to be tough. I think we limited them to not too many chances. They’ve been on a hell of a run, they’ve been playing extremely well over the last couple of months and we didn’t take that lightly.

“You come away from home in a derby game, you start the game 0-0 and you know there’s going to be times in the game where you’re going to be under serious pressure.

“That’s just the nature of a derby day, I thought we handled it really well.”

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