Chelsea captain John Terry expressed his relief after the West Londoners chalked up only their fourth league win of the Premier League campaign on Saturday at Stamford Bridge.
Diego Costa’s second half strike was enough to defeat Norwich 1-0 as the defending champions finally had something to celebrate after an appalling start to the season.
Terry, who had a strong game at the heart of the Chelsea back-four, says the win was a welcome boost to the squad who still lie a distant 14 points behind surprise leaders Leicester down in 15th position.
“We’re delighted to win,” Terry told Chelsea TV ahead of the Champions League trip to Maccabi Tel Aviv on Tuesday.
“Relieved as well. Picking up three points has been a really good feeling. Good performance to top it off as well.
“Hopefully we can put ourselves on a good run of games now and climb up this table.
The victory was also a much needed boost for under-fire manager Jose Mourinho who had overseen three straight league defeats for the first time since owner Roman Abramovich took over the club 12 years ago.
A victory in Israel combined with a Porto success over Dynamo Kiev the same evening will see the 2012 European champions qualify for next year’s knockout phase.
“We can build on this now and hopefully get another win on Tuesday,” continued the 34-year-old.”
“We have three points on the board now in the Premier League and switch focus to the Champions League again,” Terry added.
“With that in mind and the importance of qualifying it’s all there for everyone to see and to go and do.”
“Anyone who has been to the games and watched the last five, six games has seen the performances have been there,” Terry added.
“(Against Norwich was) very much the same. Creating chances, shots on goal, crosses into the box. It could’ve been four or five. It wasn’t.
“We’ll certainly take the 1-0 and we have something to build upon now.” said Terry after the team’s third clean sheet of the season.
Following Tuesday’s key tie, the Blues return to London and a difficult trip to arch rivals Tottenham on Sunday before matches against Bournemouth, Porto, Leicester, Sunderland, Watford and Manchester United to finish the year.