Town boss Kieran McKenna felt the Blues’ 1-0 home victory over West Bromwich Albion was a win of the type he would have picked to benefit his squad.

Sub Jack Clarke netted the game’s only goal in the 83rd minute to end a two-game winless run, following Tuesday’s hugely disappointing 3-0 defeat to Charlton at Portman Road and the 2-1 loss at Middlesbrough last weekend.

“I think it’s a really good win for the group, really happy for the players and for the staff,” he said.

“It’s a good win in that if I could have picked the type of win that would really benefit the group today, it would have been one where we have a clean sheet, we have a really stable performance and give nothing away.

“It was as tough a game as we knew it would be, played in a really, really difficult atmosphere and the players stuck together, stuck to their jobs. When we did play our football in the first half, we put some really good moves together.

“Didn’t get the reward, but a lot of what we’ve spoken about over the last couple days was about not getting too desperate when we don’t score early, managing the game better, managing the emotions better, not getting frustrated, not forcing the issue, not opening ourselves up too early.

“Knowing that if we don’t get the early rewards, which we could have done today, if we stay stable, if we stay concentrated, if we stay together, then we have the quality to win the game late, and the fitness to win the game late. And if we can’t do it with the starters, we have good subs to come on and do it.

“In a fair bit of adversity today and this week, I think the group showed the qualities that they’re going to need to keep picking up games in a really tough season in a challenging situation.”

As has so often been the case in McKenna’s time at Town, the Blues’ subs once again made the decisive contribution, Clarke netting his goal after Jens Cajuste had seized on an error and Ivan Azon had forced a save from Albion keeper Josh Griffiths.

“It’s something that we believe in, something that we’ve had success with and they’ve had a really good impact,” McKenna continued.

“It was a real challenge today with the two substitutions, two number 10s [Sammie Szmodics and Chuba Akpom] going off, also two stoppages makes it really tricky because your timing of the last sub is really difficult then.

“You don’t want to leave yourself open to maybe somebody getting injured or getting cramp and you can finish the game with 10 men, so you can’t go too early.

“But we knew we had some good weapons there, but it probably came a little bit later than most people wanted in the stadium.

“But we got there and the subs had the impact and when it falls to Jack, you have real confidence that he’s going to tuck that away. A really nice moment for him again.”

McKenna praised Clarke for his outstanding attitude, the 24-year-old, who is now the club’s joint-top scorer on five alongside Jaden Philogene, having come off the bench in most games rather than starting with both he and the former Aston Villa man most comfortable in the left-wised attacking role.

“It really has,” McKenna said. “Probably didn’t have the start that he wanted in the first game or two, but even that’s part of his story.

“I’ve spoken with Jack. He’s already shown that he can be a really good player in the Championship and I think he already is a really good player in the Championship.

“What we want him to be, what we believe he can be, what he wants to be, is a really good Premier League player. And to do that he had to and he has to develop from where he was 18 months ago in his all-round game and his off-the-ball work, in his defending and his resilience, all those things.

“I spoke to him about the season and whether he makes 30 starts or 25 starts or 20 starts, it’s probably not going to be the decisive thing in him taking a step towards possibly being a Premier League player again and helping the club taking a step towards being a Premier League club.

“That is how he can work every day, how he can keep improving his game, how he can deal with the different situations, how he can keep improving all-round. And he’s doing all those things.

“He knows that he’ll do that some weeks from the start, he’ll do that some weeks from the bench, but if he keeps working how he is at the moment, he’s a much better, more-rounded player than the one who arrived.

“And that player was already a good Championship player, not that he doesn’t have anything to prove at this level, but we know he is.

“But I think he’s on his journey now to hopefully becoming the best player he can be. If he can do that, then it’s good for him and good for the club.”

Photo: TWTD

billlm added 16:03 - Oct 25 Good lord he talks the talk
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Denny32 added 16:05 - Oct 25 But can he walk the walk
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BurleysGloryDays added 16:09 - Oct 25 Well done boys! KMK asking the fans and press (EADT) to help not hinder I think Some extremely unfair criticism of KMK from last week, in my view. Keeping going Town! Class above today
16

Bazza8564 added 16:14 - Oct 25 Fair play to the lads today, this was a decent performance, not a great one, but 3 points and a clean sheet is a positive. We have to give a lot of credit to how we kept WBA quiet today, we made them look a poor side, im not convinced thats entirely down to them
14

jas0999 added 16:37 - Oct 25 After eleven games, we are still quite a way behind where we should be. Thought we deserved to win today, but we are still very inconsistent. Hopefully, KM will push on.
2

Linkboy13 added 16:38 - Oct 25 McKenna will know deep down there's still much more work to be done before we are promotion material. I think this season the team is struggling to cope with the system and it's time to play with an extra midfielder maybe 442 or 433 much easier for players to understand. Dispite Azon not setting the world alight he's a bigger goal threat than Hirst. Not much to do for Walton who because of his better dominance of his area is my preference in goal.

0

awayfan added 17:04 - Oct 25 Wise, insightful, well-balanced comments as always. I’m proud he’s the manager of our great club.
3

Nottsblue66 added 17:43 - Oct 25 Glad we won but my god us & west brom were 2 poor teams still not convinced
-3

tetchris added 17:51 - Oct 25 Clarke got to be the best version of himself :)
1

ArnieM added 18:32 - Oct 25 McKenna is almost amotional... its not normal.
0

Dubchief added 18:52 - Oct 25 Need better game management from the players and the coaches need to start drilling that into them to earn their pay. 1 minute to go and Walton gets it played to feet with the freedom of Portman road to run down the clock somewhat with a WBA front line that at that time was not running at him and he hoofed it up for a counter attack, could have cost us 2 points.. keep hold of it when you get the ball back and see the game out rather than give it back to the opposition for them to have another go! Thankfully we got away with it but not one player got their foot on that ball to manage the end of that game and run down the clock it seems a part of the game that’s alien to our players.

0

blueoutlook added 19:02 - Oct 25 Let’s not kid ourselves both teams today were woeful. Neither will be troubling the top 6.
-3

Town1Inter0 added 19:37 - Oct 25 If we win our game in hand at Blackburn we’re 6th.
1

TedTurnip added 19:49 - Oct 25 I agree, both sides were poor and how Davis got man of the match I do not know. More than one misplaced pass and a free kick that went untouched over to the otherwise of the pitch for a throw in. Delighted with the 3 points but make no mistake it was much down to WBA being vulnerable as it was ITFC being threatening. I still don't see a big enough of threat in front of goal despite all of the possession. I am sure he will be hoping he gets to January to address that

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TedTurnip added 19:50 - Oct 25 I am sure I will be hoping to improve my spelling and grammar for the next post
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steve7881 added 22:11 - Oct 25 For those that say our gaffa has no plan B, have some of that. With J Taylor and Matuisi (apologies for spelling ive had a drink) we were NEVER gonna be done on transition today. Not the most exciting but really good performance, give nothing away and trust in the fact that we have quality in attack and if we get our moment we will take it. More of that please and we will gather the points. COYB. UNITY and we'll be OK

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armchaircritic59 added 23:09 - Oct 25 Town1Inter0, not sure where you got that deduction from. We have 6 more matches before we go to Blackburn, could be anywhere by then! Apart from that, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, much better to have the points on board, than try and play catch up. One things for sure, Blackburn will need little incentive to be up for it, rain permitting!
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flykickingbybgunn added 07:19 - Oct 26 What we are getting on here is an example of how KMcK speaks to his players. Advising, encouraging, instructing. Long may it continue.
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SpiritOfJohn added 07:31 - Oct 26 Great insight into what McKenna wants from Clarke, especially regarding his defensive duties. It will be interesting to see if Taylor can keep his place after a display that made us look less open to counter-attacking. For a bit of light relief this morning I recommend reviewing some of the pre-match comments regarding the 9 changes made by McKenna.
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