Match winner Tommy Smith admitted it was harder to miss than score after netting the deciding goal as Ipswich Town beat Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 this afternoon.

After Freddie Sears had brought the Blues level following Ross Wallace’s opener, Smith ghosted into the box to head home just before the hour mark, after Owls keeper Keiren Westwood could only parry Ryan Fraser’s cross into his path.

It was the run which made Smith’s goal, with the finish a simple one due to his instinctive positioning, which the central defender admitted was due, in part, to working with his attacking colleagues in training.

“It was just a case of taking a gamble because Ryan Fraser taking on anyone, one-one-one, means he has a good chance of putting a ball in,” Smith said.

“It was just a case of being in the right place at the right time, the keeper’s parried it straight to my head and I was three or four yards out so it was probably harder to miss.

“You learn that in training, watching the strikers they do that against you and if I’m in the box I try and match what they do.”

Smith was delighted he and his side were able to get their home league campaign off to a winning start, but admitted the Blues needed to be patient against a Wednesday side who came to Suffolk to play.

“Another home game where we’ve managed to win so that’s two on the bounce, so hopefully we can make Portman Road a fortress this season,” he said.

“It’s a different proposition from Sheffield Wednesday this time around, they’ve got a new manager, new players and a new way of playing so we knew it was going to be difficult.

“We knew we had to be patient with them because we knew they wanted to pass it around at the back, so we couldn’t let ourselves get sucked in because if we did then they would have played around us.

“We had to be patient and we reaped the rewards.”