'The stick drove me on' says Quinn

ALAN Quinn has told how abusive Sheffield Wednesday fans drove him on to help Ipswich Town end their dismal away record.Quinn spent almost seven years at Hillsborough before switching to hated rivals Sheffield United via a loan spell at Sunderland.

Derek Davis

ALAN Quinn has told how abusive Sheffield Wednesday fans drove him on to help Ipswich Town end their dismal away record.

Quinn spent almost seven years at Hillsborough before switching to hated rivals Sheffield United via a loan spell at Sunderland.

He is the only player to have scored for both sides in a Steel City derby and was given a rough reception by Owls fans.

Quinn said: “I got dog's abuse and I was bit upset that I did, because I started here as a young boy and really loved it.

“The stick drove me on and it made me more determined to help Ipswich get that first win.”

The Republic of Ireland midfielder scored with just his second touch on his first return to Hillsborough to give the Blues a third minute lead, which brought muted celebrations.

He said: “It was a great move and Jon Walters played it in and although it was a bad pitch it fell to me and I caught it nicely. I was delighted to see it go in. I was not going to over-celebrate but then I got pelters after from the Wednesday fans, so when I set up Alan Lee I really celebrated.”

While Quinn was delighted to score he was even more pleased to help Town win away for and get off to a new start.

He added; “This is a big psychological barrier cracked. The gaffer has been banging on all week about winning away and I'm delighted we got that win for him.

“We have got that big away win and now we need to get a few more while keeping the home run going.

“The gaffer has been saying all along that our season starts here. If we have any hope of going up we needed to win and we did.”

David Norris and Stephen Bywater got starts, while Velice Sumulikoski came off the bench to make Town debuts.

Quinn said: “All the lads played well, David is a very good player and he did really well as did Stephen. He sorted the defence out and was a really good talker. He deserved to win because we played the better football.

“We battered Plymouth but couldn't score. Against Wednesday we played really well and it is not an easy place to play.”

Even though Quinn was hammered by the Wednesdayites he bears no grudges and added; “I hope Sheffield Wednesday do get out of it. There are worse teams in this division.”