diff --git a/airflow/providers/sftp/hooks/sftp.py b/airflow/providers/sftp/hooks/sftp.py
index 0907fba2eb49bc..7a2e34a21561b0 100644
--- a/airflow/providers/sftp/hooks/sftp.py
+++ b/airflow/providers/sftp/hooks/sftp.py
@@ -549,7 +549,7 @@ async def get_files_and_attrs_by_pattern(
         matched_files = [file for file in files_list if fnmatch(str(file.filename), fnmatch_pattern)]
         return matched_files
 
-    async def get_mod_time(self, path: str) -> str:
+    async def get_mod_time(self, path: str) -> str:  # type: ignore[return]
         """
         Make SFTP async connection.
 
@@ -558,9 +558,10 @@ async def get_mod_time(self, path: str) -> str:
 
         :param path: full path to the remote file
         """
-        ssh_conn = await self._get_conn()
-        sftp_client = await ssh_conn.start_sftp_client()
+        ssh_conn = None
         try:
+            ssh_conn = await self._get_conn()
+            sftp_client = await ssh_conn.start_sftp_client()
             ftp_mdtm = await sftp_client.stat(path)
             modified_time = ftp_mdtm.mtime
             mod_time = datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(modified_time).strftime("%Y%m%d%H%M%S")  # type: ignore[arg-type]
@@ -568,3 +569,6 @@ async def get_mod_time(self, path: str) -> str:
             return mod_time
         except asyncssh.SFTPNoSuchFile:
             raise AirflowException("No files matching")
+        finally:
+            if ssh_conn:
+                ssh_conn.close()
diff --git a/airflow/providers/sftp/sensors/sftp.py b/airflow/providers/sftp/sensors/sftp.py
index de3870937d43b2..f56ad9341001de 100644
--- a/airflow/providers/sftp/sensors/sftp.py
+++ b/airflow/providers/sftp/sensors/sftp.py
@@ -111,6 +111,19 @@ def poke(self, context: Context) -> PokeReturnValue | bool:
                 _newer_than = convert_to_utc(self.newer_than)
                 if _newer_than <= _mod_time:
                     files_found.append(actual_file_to_check)
+                    self.log.info(
+                        "File %s has modification time: '%s', which is newer than: '%s'",
+                        actual_file_to_check,
+                        str(_mod_time),
+                        str(_newer_than),
+                    )
+                else:
+                    self.log.info(
+                        "File %s has modification time: '%s', which is older than: '%s'",
+                        actual_file_to_check,
+                        str(_mod_time),
+                        str(_newer_than),
+                    )
             else:
                 files_found.append(actual_file_to_check)