After notching his 14th league goal of the campaign, courtesy of a wonder strike from just outside the centre-circle, Adam Armstrong spoke to the club’s media team, of his delight at netting the winning goal.
“I noticed that the ‘keeper (Alex Smithies) was off his line when the ball got whizzed across and I thought, ‘why not?’. I’ve hit them before, in the past and they haven’t gone in, but it was nice that it came off tonight. I hit it very cleanly and it was just about whether the ‘keeper was quick enough to get back and stop it, but thankfully for me he didn’t. Just to see it hit the back of the net, especially given it was the goal that put us ahead at 3-2, was massive because I thought we deserved to be ahead on the balance of play, because the lads put in a great shift tonight. The three points were the main thing tonight, especially after the bad week we’ve had. We’re not stupid, we knew we had to bounce back quickly and tonight, we showed the togetherness and the talent we have within the squad.
“It does make it sweeter that a goal like that was the winner, but I would have been equally pleased if someone else had scored the winner. The main thing from tonight is the win. We came into tonight knowing we had to win, and we got the result we wanted, backed with a great performance. This goal has to be up there with some of the best I’ve scored! It was a beautiful goal. It felt nice and satisfying to chip the ‘keeper from that far out. I was watching the Southampton vs Manchester City game and I saw the goal (by Che Adams) and it stuck with me. I think the ‘keepers in this league do stay off their line quite a bit. Sometimes they go in and sometimes they don’t but delighted it did tonight.
“I always have a laugh with my dad because he always tells me to try and shoot from distance because the goalies are always off their line. I know I have the capabilities to do that at this level now, and I’ve done it in the past, so hopefully I can get a lot more like it. Goals are nice, but I just want to work hard for the team. I feel great at the moment, I’m scoring goals and getting assists which is nice to add to the tally, but we have to keep on pushing until the end of the season. Tonight’s performance was perfect considering the bad week we had. We knew, as a group that the past week wasn’t good enough, but it’s how you bounce back that counts. We showed great togetherness tonight against a tough team, but we knew what we had to do, and I thought we deserved the win tonight. It’s been a tough week or so. You can’t take any game or opposition for granted because anyone can beat anyone in this division, but we’ve regrouped and put on a good performance and result tonight.
“As footballers we have to look forward to the next game, which is West Brom at home. It’s going to be really tough and we’re going to have to put a real shift in to beat them, but we’re capable of doing that and pushing back up the league. I think we’re capable of winning all four of our remaining games, to be honest, because we’ve done it in the past. We’ve won four on the bounce multiple times, both this season and last, so hopefully we can build on tonight, pick up some wins and be in amongst the top six, come the end of the season. I don’t really set goal or assist targets if I’m honest, I just keep taking every game as it goes because, if you don’t hit your target you won’t be happy with yourself. I’m just enjoying my football at the moment; I’m playing well and the goals are coming!”
