Mark Convery scored the stoppage time equaliser at Crawley in our 2-2 draw on Saturday, tore his shirt off to celebrate his first goal of the season, and afterwards revealed that he is working hard to add to his all-round game.
After twice falling behind to Crawley, a sending-off for each team, an injury to Jon Challinor and trailing 2-1 in the 93rd minute, Convery picked up possession and stepped forward to drive a 30-yard strike into the bottom corner and secure a point for the U's.
"A goal was coming, it was just a matter of who was going to do it, and luckily I was the one who got it," said the 27-year-old Geordie.
"He's a fairly big keeper and it was going to take something fairly special to beat him, although I think there were a couple of defenders in front of him who blocked his view of it," he added modestly. "The gaffer keeps telling the midfielders that he wants them to chip in with goals so that's what we need to do."
Mark was booked for his ecstatic celebrations in front of the away fans but the yellow card could not dampen his spirits: "As soon as I started taking my top off I knew it would be a yellow card but I thought 'I don't mind taking this one'!
"The fans were brilliant," he added. "It seemed as though the referee was against us and it could have got us down, but we kept going, We fell behind but got back in it, we fell behind again but kept going, and the fans kept going and kept the team going. If we've have played another five minutes I think we could even have gone on to win it."
Making only his fifth start of the season, the former Sunderland, Darlington and York midfielder revealed that he is working hard to meet the demands of the position under new boss Gary Brabin and he hopes his overall performance as well as the goal will help to press his claims for more first team action.
"It's one of the things the gaffer is always getting on to us about and I totally agree with him, so on that point I haven't got a lot of an argument. I know to be in the middle you've got to do the other side of the game; it's not just about when you've got the ball, so I'm trying to take it on board and Saturday's game wasn't all about pretty football, sometimes it was about putting your head in there, and I think it shows you get your rewards at the end of the game if you do that sort of thing."
Despite only taking one point from the match, Mark agreed that the contentious decisions, the injury to Jon Challinor and the stoppage time equaliser made it feel more like a win: "I think so because Ben (Farrell) got sent off but it was never a sending-off; you could say ours was a soft penalty but I thought theirs was a very soft penalty, which was sort of evening it out like referees are prone to do.
"But when you look back on the game we'll probably be happier about it because I think we took more out of the game than just a point. The lads kept going, we showed we can come to hard places like this because not many will come here and get anything, we matched them battling-wise and I think we played the better football too."
Mark now turns his attention on Tuesday's match at home to his former club York City and hopes he has done enough to keep his place: "I'd like to think so but, as I said, the gaffer has his reasons for the team he picks. It's nothing personal, everybody gets on, so whether you're playing or not you pat whoever is in the team on the back.
"We're in it together and the main thing is that we win."
With Jon Challinor injured and Ben Farrell now suspended for the next two games, Mark looks se to partner Paul Carden, who returns from suspension for Tuesday's match.
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