Prior to the 7:45 p.m. kickoff, Albrighton made the following statement: “I believe that winning gives you a positive attitude and momentum heading into the next fixture, regardless of the competition or game we play. Naturally, it meant a lot to us to reach the last goal and make a push.

This season, we’ve fallen short of that goal a few times, but we’ve persevered. We have occasionally given up and occasionally gotten away with it, so leading by three goals heading into the final five minutes was really important to us.

“We’ve grown accustomed to it now,” the winger said. This season, we’ve done it quite a bit. Whether it’s in this league or Europe, we’ve done it before. It’s clear that the Christmas season was a true test for us.

“We’ve got a strong enough squad to be able to deal with such a quick turnaround, but we do have a few players missing at the moment, either through injury or AFCON, so that takes a toll.”

The team’s top priority was to put the disappointments from Monday night’s tie with Ipswich Town behind them after defeating Blues with a strong second half performance.

“It goes without saying that we want to get back to winning ways in the league,” the 34-year-old continued. “Given the situation we found ourselves in, it was frustrating to draw with Ipswich. It’s hard to accept when you give in so late.

However, when we consider the bigger picture, we realize that we are the team ahead and that they would have like to win. They are pursuing us, but we managed to win the game and get a crucial point.