Magilton - The players were immense

BLUES Boss Jim Magilton hailed his players after they kept their play-off hopes alive with a come from behind victory over East Anglian rivals Norwich City.

Derek Davis

BLUES Boss Jim Magilton hailed his players after they kept their play-off hopes alive with a come from behind victory over East Anglian rivals Norwich City.

Magilton said: “We had so many chances to kill the game them off but we didn't take them. The players were immense.

“We are always quick to be critical but today they deserve our full praise.”

Haynes scored the winner and Alex Pearce's own goal came from Haynes' cross after Ched Evans had given City the lead.

But Haynes missed a raft of second half chances and Magilton joked he was ready to strangle the 20-year-old.

He said: “If we had not won the game. I would have strangled him.

“He scored a great goal with a composed finish but in the second we had Danny at his best and worst.

“He is getting better and I have a lot of faith in him. He needs a bit of finesse and when you have that raw power and pace the finishing touches take a bit longer.”

Both Town's goals were set up by the outstanding Pablo Counago.

Magilton said: “Pablo makes the difference to us when he is bright and focused he is excellent.

“They are very few players who want to play in the hole and lay the ball off the way he does. There is a lot of crash, bang wallop, but he deals with that and the midfield like to play off him and he was important for us again today.”

Shefki Kuqi made a surprise return in place of Alan Lee but lasted just half an hour before his hamstring gave out again.

Magilton said: “We brought Shefki in and left Alan out of the 16 because he is low on confidence. I'm not sure how bad Shefki's injury is but Alan comes back in the frame next week.

“We pay Shefki enough so we wanted out pound of flesh.”

Magilton also praised Jon Walters who came back three weeks earlier than expected after a knee operation and looked good in the hour.

Magilton said: “Walters' performance was immense.

“There was every indication that was ready, although I would have preferred just to have given him 30minutes but he played for an hour and was awesome for us.”

Magilton admitted there was still a long way to go and his need to do it again on Saturday.

He said: “A lot of questions have been asked but we have answered them “Now we have to go to Molineux and get something out of that game.

“I hope it goes to the wire because that means we are still in with a chance.”