Preston North End defender Andrew Hughes grabbed his fourth goal of a productive first campaign with the club in the weekend’s win at Millwall.
The left back struck with his less-favoured right foot to open the scoring at The Den and admitted it was a bit of a collector’s item when he spoke to iFollow PNE down at Springfields.
“It was nice to get another goal, especially one with the right foot - I didn’t think that worked up until Saturday!” Joked the No.16.
“I caught myself by surprise. I was nearly not going to strike it, as I heard Pottsy say ‘set’, but I saw the ball coming down and just struck it and luckily it went in.
“It was the perfect away performance. Me and Ben [Davies] were joking on the bus on the way in, wouldn’t it be nice to be 3-0 up in the first half and amazingly we were, which was the perfect scenario away from home.
“It was an enjoyable game to play in and I am sure that the fans enjoyed the day as well.”
The consistency of selection of late has helped the team build their on-field partnerships as they have gone eight games unbeaten.
Hughes, a summer signing from Peterborough United, has played behind Paul Gallagher and enjoyed the combination, but is well aware – like the rest of those currently in the team – that there are plenty of players waiting in the wings to take their chance if form drops.
“Gally, you know he is not a runner, so he tends to drift inside, but as you saw on Saturday, he had three assists and when you get him on the ball, we know that anything can happen,” continued the 26-year-old.
“Having the quality in the squad is a good thing. It means that if someone does need to come out of the side, there is someone else who can step straight in and do the job, so it is a benefit for everyone.
“There’s more to come. Moulty and Robbo were both firing before their injuries and it will be good to have them back soon. Seani is back to his best now and has two in three, so everyone is playing their part.”
The next big test sees high-flying Bristol City head to Deepdale and despite their tremendous run of form of late, the PNE man feels that they will not relish the trip to PR1.
“Bristol City have been on a good run, but as I have said before, I don’t think anyone would want to play us right now with the form that we are in. It will be a good test for both teams.
“We will look to come out fast again and take the game to them. They have a game in midweek and that is something that could benefit us.
“When we played Forest, having played in the midweek, it is tough to keep playing at the same level, with the way that we play for 90 minutes, so if we can start fast again, it could be good for us.
“We are enjoying every game at the moment. We talk about momentum and you can’t take the impact it has for granted and we showed that again at the weekend with another win
“Last time we played Bristol at their place we weren’t too far apart in terms of points, but they been on a great run and find themselves in the Play-Off positions, but hopefully we can now do the same and join them.
“We always had the belief that we were good enough to get there, it was just unfortunate that we had all those injuries, but now we have everyone back we are climbing the table nicely.
“There is no pressure on us now; all the big teams who have been there in and around it can just see us chipping away at [the gap]. We will just go out there, enjoy our football, get the wins and see where we end up,” he added.
Watch the full interview ahead of the Bristol City game by clicking on the video above.