Midfielder Idris El Mizouni has been reflecting on eight days in which he signed a new contract with Town and scored the winning goal in last night’s 2-1 FA Cup victory at Oldham Athletic.
El Mizouni smashed home in the 80th minute to put the Blues through to round two and home tie with another League Two side Barrow at Portman Road.
It was the Paris-born schemer’s second goal for Town, the previous one having come at Peterborough in the EFL Trophy in December 2019.
Asked when he last scored a better goal, the 21-year-old said: "I probably didn’t, to be honest, it was probably my best goal in my career but and I’m happy with it.”
"I just got the touch and then no one really pressed me so I was like I might just have a volley and got it right, so I’m thankful for that.”
He says he enjoyed celebrating with the supporters having been pushed in their direction by his team-mates.
"It was great,” the Tunisia international said. "Obviously I’ve not scored a lot of goals in my career, I only had one with Cambridge [during his first loan spell at the Abbey Stadium], so it was a great feeling to score in front of the fans. It was really good.”
The academy product believes he is capable of scoring regularly: "I think I can definitely score more goals from the edge of the box now I’m playing deeper as a centre mid. If I can get those goals around the edge of the box, that would be good.”
Reflecting on the game, he added: "They made it really tough, to be honest. They pressed us well. It was hard, especially in the first 20 minutes, it was a bit of a madness.
"But in the second half I thought we got it right, we were more comfortable with the ball, we were switching the ball well and then the main thing was to win the game and get through in the FA Cup and playing Barrow at home in the next game will be good as well.”
Town are now on a run in which they’ve lost only one in 11 and El Mizouni believes it’s important to keep winning in the cups.
"We want to put a winning culture at the club and then we just want to win every game,” he said. "It could be league, FA Cup, Papa John’s, every game that we have we need to win and then get that culture at the club.”
And the more cup games there are, the more chances he is likely to get to play in the first team, with yesterday’s start his 12th for the club in addition to seven appearances from the bench.
"I think every game that you play you can show the gaffer how good you are and then they can trust you,” he said. "If he picks you then you’ve got to be ready. Those games are important for everyone.”
Manager Paul Cook has shown that good performances in the team in cup matches can lead to players getting the nod in the league, Bailey Clements having won his place in the team against Oxford having impressed in last Tuesday’s Papa John’s Trophy tie with Colchester.
"Yes, definitely. The gaffer tells us every time that if you play well, there’s no reason that I can’t trust you and I’ll put you in. He won’t be afraid to put young ones like me or Bailey in.
"I think that’s good for the club and even for the fans, they like to see players like Bailey, who came through the academy with me, I was playing with him since the U18s first year. I think it’s great for everyone at the club.”"
El Mizouni was delighted to put pen to paper on his new contract, which runs to 2024 with the club having an option for a further season.
"It’s great to sign a new deal because I came here when I was 17 so I kind of grew up at the club,” he said. "I think it’s great to stay here and we all know what the club wants to achieve now and to know that the club wants you to be part of it, that’s a great thing. It’s been a good week for me.”
It’s been quite a turnaround after what he admits was a difficult 2020/21: "It was a tough year for me with playing games and my injury and stuff, so I was just focusing on coming back because there was a new gaffer and I just wanted to impress him in training and then when I got my chance impressing in games. To be fair, that worked quite well, so that’s good.”
El Mizouni is now looking forward to the league games at Sunderland on Saturday and then Rotherham at home next Tuesday.
"Great games to play, Sunderland away and then Rotherham at home,” he continued. "If we can win both of them, that would be perfect for us. We’ve had one defeat in 11 in all competitions, so if we can win those games it would be very good.”
Town have shown they can beat the division’s bigger name sides on their own turf having thrashed Portsmouth 4-0 at Fratton Park and Wycombe 4-1 at Adams Park.
"Exactly. We’ve done that,” he added. "I think we have the best squad in the league, as you can see, we make changes, we have great players at the club, we can definitely do it.”