Town boss Mick McCarthy says he was in no doubt that his team would bounce back from their heavy defeat at Reading and was ultimately pleased to have taken three points from the Blues back-to-back away games.

“On Monday you [the media] were all asking me the question, ‘Will you get a good reaction?’ and I said that I had no doubt I’d get a good reaction,” McCarthy said, reflecting on Tuesday’s 1-0 win at Elland Road.

“The surprise is not the Leeds performance and result, the surprise was the Reading performance and the result.

“Every other week we’ve been bang at it and we have a standard that we set and that was just below it. But hey ho, it might happen again this season.

“But what’s bizarre is that I would have taken two points from the two games. If we’d have drawn at Reading and drawn at Leeds we’d have been sat here and I would be happy.

“We’ve got three. How bonkers is that? We’re better off than we thought we would have been, or would have taken before we set off.”

McCarthy was delighted to see Tommy Smith net his side’s winning goal on Tuesday with the Blues’ defence having had a tough time at Reading and been on the end of much of the subsequent criticism.

“He is [an unsung hero] and I think it was great that he scored there the other night, the winner,” he added.

“The defence had had a bit of a battering. They had a battering on Friday night but it’s a team game and they can’t hold out on their own.

“But they’d been feeling a bit sore, so for them to get a clean sheet it was brilliant. As I said, it’s a team effort, but for one of the defenders, Tommy Smith, to score the winner was lovely."

Photo: Action Images

MedwayTractor added 09:31 - Sep 18 Well done to Tommy on becoming Town's highest ever centre back goalscorer, with 23 in all competitions, overtaking Bill Baxter, 22 goals, but BB played half back at start with. The only better figure for a defender is Kevin Beattie's (who else?), he scored 32, but played LB as well as CB. Tommy's goals have come in 214 appearances, therefore just over 1 goal every 10 games, or the equivalent of 5 per season. By way of comparison, Kevin Beattie played in 307 games, so just over 1 in 10 as well. I'll get my anorak.......

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muccletonjoe added 10:15 - Sep 18 Tommy Smith is an unsung hero. One of our best players and long may that continue.
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BackTheBlues added 10:17 - Sep 18 Tommy is a true blue. Not blessed with pace and power or overall footballing technique, but he ticks all the boxes enough! He tries harder than anyone else, takes defeats to heart more than anyone else and never gets the arse ache when he gets criticism. I'd love to see the fans go quiet on him, stop criticising him on every type of internet portal/social media and see how he gets on! Never seen a team call for someone's head so often!

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