OWEN Garvan gave a little smile before answering the big question of 'did you mean it?'.“I looked up and hit the ball across the goal and luckily enough it went in.

Derek Davis

OWEN Garvan gave a little smile before answering the big question of 'did you mean it?'.

“I looked up and hit the ball across the goal and luckily enough it went in. I'll let you decide if it was meant,” said the Dubliner, who will be celebrating St Patrick's Day tonight in buoyant mood.

Irish eyes were certainly smiling for the Blues after Garvan's opener and Danny Haynes' clincher against the club that had released him as a 15-year-old.

Garvan said: “The goal was a great start and gave us a platform to go on. We were hanging on a bit but Danny's goal helped and we got a clean sheet which is great for everyone.

“It meant a lot that we could grind it out and get the win.”

The win catapulted Town above Charlton who slipped to ninth place, but other results were not too kind to Town who now sit in eighth place, just three points behind fifth-placed Hull City who go to Colchester United tomorrow night.

So it was a big win for Town who would have dropped out of the top ten had they slipped up.

Garvan said: “If we had lost it would have given us a real uphill battle but we are still in the mix.

“The team above us won as well but all we can do is concentrate on our own game and pick up as many points as we can starting with another win at Scunthorpe on Saturday.”

The downside was the loss through injury of David Norris and the returning hero Shefki Kuqi went off injured.

Garvan said: “Shefki's loss is a big blow. The reception he got was unbelievable and just by being here it has given the place a lift.

“We all responded to Tuesday which is what the manager wanted but now we need to keep that going against Scunthorpe.”

Garvan's third goal of the season, and his first since mid-December against Scunthorpe, may have been a fluke but his attempt to beat Nicky Weaver from nearly 40 yards wasn't.

He said: “I probably need to shoot more and the manger has been encouraging me to do that so that I score more often.”

Garvan will hope to repeat his goalscoring exploits on Saturday at Glanford Park where he will be making his 100th Town appearance - should he be selected.