Danny Rowe’s first goal for the club not only earned all three points at Rochdale on Tuesday, but also fired them back to the top of League One, and he is confident they can go on to claim one of the two automatic promotion places that are up for grabs.
Within eight minutes of the restart Wythenshawe-born Rowe prodded the ball over the line from close range to cash-in on a defensive error from the home side and admitted it was a moment he had dreamt of since joining the club from Macclesfield in January 2017.
Rowe, 27, laughed: "It was an unbelievable strike, wasn’t it? Okay, it was a tap-in but to be honest I’d have taken any goal, no matter how it went in.
"If the ball had taken a rebound off my shin I wouldn’t even have minded because I just wanted to get on the scoresheet one way or another.
"It was a great feeling, something that had been in the back of my mind ever since I signed for the club, but going out on loan and other stuff has had an impact on the number of games I’ve played.
"I’m used to getting goals and it’s good to finally break my duck, so hopefully I can go on to get a few more.
"I’d waited a long time to see one go in. Every game, we’re coming off and the team has done well and won the game.
"But as a player you want to be adding something, especially as an attacker you want to be scoring and creating goals. Like I say, it’s been in the back of my mind for some time.”
Having been a fringe player and had two loan spells at Lincoln, the winger is now enjoying a run in the side and his 14 appearances in the current campaign include six in Town’s last seven games in all competitions.
"That is very important for me, to be getting regular games,” he added. "Thankfully, the gaffer has trusted me this season and I’ve had a good run.
"We’ve got a big squad, which means some talented players are sitting on the bench, and when you do get your chance you’ve got to do well. We’re winning quite regularly now so it keeps the competition for places alive.
"With the rotation we also change formation, which affects the wide areas. Maybe you’ve got to come inside and play as a 10 or, like Gwion [Edwards], he’s been playing full-back as well as wide. You’ve just got to be ready for whatever position the manager wants you to play.
"I’ve played in the number 10 role as well and that sort of game is a little bit different. I didn’t really get the ball into my feet a lot, so it was like trying to get on the second balls. But I can play there and I enjoy playing there — I don’t really mind where I play.”
Rowe was probably at his lowest ebb at the beginning of last season when new boss Paul Hurst only used him twice, both as a substitute, in the Carabao Cup defeat at Exeter and the 2-0 league loss at Hull. With Town bottom of the table 14 games into the league campaign Hurst departed to be replaced by Paul Lambert.
"It was really frustrating when I wasn’t getting games,” the winger continued. "You train hard week in, week out and you don’t have anything to show for it. It wasn’t as if the team was winning week in, week out, either.
"At the start of last season, when I came back from injury, I worked hard all summer and the manager didn’t give me much of a chance. That was really frustrating.
"Since the new gaffer has come in he’s been really good and he’s stuck by what he said and I’ve played, so I’m thankful for that.
"But even if the time I spent at Lincoln was good for me because I did well and they did well, it was still a bit of a bitter moment, the fact that I had to go out on loan in the first place when I felt I might have been given more of an opportunity here.
"I understood when the gaffer came in because I had only played a few minutes with the first team, so it left him with no choice but to send me out on loan.
"I was as fit as the other lads but the majority of the time I wasn’t with the senior squad, I was training with the U23s, which wasn’t the best state to be in, neither physically nor mentally. Thankfully, I’m playing now and that’s the most important thing.”