Town moved up into 9th position just one point adrift of the play-off places following a well-deserved three points at the AESSEAL New York Stadium, after James Collins netted the only goal of the game.

The win put an end to a run of two games without a win and the gaffer, who made six changes for the match against Rotherham, was keen to praise his players’ second-half performance in particular.

“We’ve had a lot of people playing a lot of games,” the Welshman began. “We mixed it up slightly and we wanted that freshness. We didn’t quite get it, we got it second half.

“We only made one change at half-time and we got it second half, it proved to be a decent decision and coming here, these are the games we have to win, and we did. I’m really pleased and really proud of them, as I said, I thought we were excellent.

"I think they all were, they all stepped up. We stepped on a yard, we pressed a little bit higher, we won second balls, we got on second balls, aggressive with our headers and in the stuff we did and then we got a foothold in the game.

“We have enough quality to score goals at this level, we only scored one tonight but we hit the post, Collo missed a great opportunity, George could have had two goals tonight, so we’ve had a lot of opportunities tonight to win the game and as I said, we have won it but that doesn’t flatter us in any way.”