Town boss Kieran McKenna hailed Azor Matusiwa’s winning strike as a “brilliant moment”, the Dutchman’s first goal for the club seeing the Blues to a vital 1-0 home victory over promotion rivals Hull City.

The 27-year-old smashed the game’s only goal in the 71st minute to secure Town their first ever league double over the Tigers and their 12th win at Portman Road this season.

The three points move the Blues back up to third in the Championship, three points behind Middlesbrough in second, still with a game in hand on the Teessiders.

Midfielder Matusiwa has been hugely influential for Town since signing for an initial £8 million from French side Rennes in the summer but until Tuesday evening hadn’t found the net and he couldn't have opened his account at a more crucial stage of such a significant game.

“Brilliant,” McKenna said. ”What a brilliant moment for him, a brilliant moment for the team and for the club, really, because we’ve won a good amount of games this year, but how many have won off of a moment, a player stepping up with a big moment that’s the clear difference in the scoreline?

“Tonight was definitely one of those and you need them over the course of the season. Hopefully, if you have a good season, you look back and you remember those big moments and we’ve had them over the last few here, so that was definitely a brilliant moment tonight.

“He’s an outstanding person, player, leader. On the leadership side, he’s certainly grown into it. It’s really not easy when you first come in, but he’s a proper standard-bearer in how he looks after himself, how he trains.

“You see how he is on the pitch, how he competes, but a great human off of it and a great teammate, so we’re really happy to have him here.”

Reflecting on the game, he added: “It was a tough game, a frustrating game. I had a fair idea of the type of game it would be, it was so, so different to Saturday [when Town beat Swansea City 3-0].

“Of course, there are bits where we can play our part in that, but the reality is that when a team come with good players, good legs, experienced defenders and sit with 11 so deep and take their time every time the ball goes out of play, it’s very rarely going to be a fantastic game of football.

“We didn’t create the pressure that we would have wanted in the first half, create enough clear-cut chances, probably one clear chance, but didn’t create as much as we would like. Had lots of set plays and built some pressure but nothing quite fell.

“Really important to not concede and they had a counter-threat and we defended those well, some of the recoveries were really good.

“You know with Hull you can’t give them something to hang onto, they’ve done it so many times this year if you give them something to hang onto. So keeping the clean sheet was a positive.

“I thought the second half was better and we started to pick through them a little bit quicker and cleaner and build the pressure right up to the point of the goal.

“Of course, a great strike, but I think the goal probably came at the point when the pressure was building.

“And then we didn’t see the game out fantastically well. Good effort but not as much composure as we’re going to need, but that’s a lesson and something for the group and for everyone to go through.

“Not perfect by any means, but a great way to win it with a big moment like that because you have to win some games like that over the course of the season.

“And it is the stage of the season where games can be a little bit more tense, especially when you face that type of game against a team who come to your home and really, really, really just try and stop you. It’s always going to be a little bit tense and we’re just happy to come out on the right side of it.”

He added: “They’re really hard to play through, that’s why they’re having such a strong season, have such a good points total.

“They’ve had some incredible games this year in terms of the pressure that they’re able to soak up. You can have set pieces and territory against them but they really don’t give up much in the middle of their goal and then they can score on the counter.

“They did it literally on Saturday [when they 1-0 at Portsmouth] and they came here to do the same tonight.

“It was tough and we just about managed to keep hold of their threat defensively and if you do that, if you keep the clean sheet - we always speak about it - you give yourself probably 95 minutes to win the game.

“If you concede in that first half or in the second half, then it becomes really, really tough. Even in that type of game, as much as you really want to push for the goal, keeping a clean sheet is so important because you give yourself the whole game to go and win it, and we believe that if we’re given that amount of time we’ll find a way to get the winner.”

The Tigers finished fourth bottom of the Championship last season and McKenna was asked whether he is surprised that they are challenging at the other end of the table with the East Yorkshire side in fifth, three points behind the Blues after their visit to Portman Road.

“I didn’t follow them last season too much, to be honest,” McKenna said. “When we were in the Championship last time, Hull were a top side [they finished seventh in 2023/24].

“Of course, they’ve had transfer embargoes and things like that but at the same time, you look at their squad and the fire power they’ve got, and they’ve got really good players.

“For me it shows that you don’t necessarily need transfer fees in this division to find good players and they’ve managed to do it.

“They’ve got good players, they’ve got depth, they’ve got threats and the manager’s done a really good job. Full credit to them, they’ve deserved to be up at the top of the league. They’ve won games in really different ways and they’re a really, really tricky opponent, so it wasn’t easy to overcome them tonight.”

Reflecting on becoming the fastest Town manager to 100 wins, having done so in 210 matches, two fewer than the previous quickest to a century, Sir Alf Ramsey, McKenna said: “My brother told me about it yesterday. It’s not the worst sentence I’ve ever been attached to! But there’s been some amazing managers here who have done things much greater than I have at the football club.

“I take those comparisons lightly in some ways and in another way, of course, it’s an honour.

“But I think we’ve had a really good few years here, it’s been a great journey so far with with a good amount of wins and, hopefully, a lot more to come.”

Photo: TWTD