Ched Evans described it as an ‘amazing feeling’ to score and take the three points on his return from three months sidelined with injury.
The forward has been out of action with plantar fasciitis since the defeat at Huddersfield in August and he admitted his time out has been frustrating.
But he made his return in some style in the comeback victory against Middlesbrough on Tuesday night, scoring a header as a substitute to level the game, before fellow forward Emil Riis sealed the victory.
Ched told iFollow PNE: “It's been a difficult one for me, just in the fact that I’ve not been able to run or walk properly for three months, so it’s been frustrating to say the least.
“But to come out the back of it, get minutes today and be back in the group and with the lads, it’s an amazing feeling for me.
“It was nice to get some minutes. I thought first half we were okay - average - we knew as a team we could do better.
“In the second half, I thought we were a different team and we got up the pitch and obviously it was nice to get a goal.
“And Emil as well, with the form he’s in, he only needs one chance at the moment and he’s sticking it in.”
The victory at the Riverside Stadium comes after back-to-back defeats against Nottingham Forest and Cardiff City, and while happy to get a win on Tuesday evening, Ched feels the team must build on it and find these results more often.
He said: “I’ve been watching for three months now while I’ve been injured and I can see watching that everybody works really hard individually.
“Everybody puts 100 per cent in and I think sometimes looking from the outside in, it might not seem that way because we’re not doing it as a team. I think the key for us is working hard together as a team and being there for your team-mate and sticking together.
“You look at the bench tonight, the players coming on, there’s pressure coming from everywhere so it’s about stepping up and sticking together and you see what happens when you do that as a team, we get the results, so it’s pleasing for us.
“We can’t say this is the start of something because it’s not. We need to build, we need a back-to-back win, and then to keep doing it. There’s no point just doing it once every three or four games, it’s not good enough, so let’s hope it’s the start of something.
“Obviously we’ve got a big game on Saturday against Fulham, but we go to places like Bournemouth and we come here and get results, so the lads will be looking forward to Saturday.
“Fulham are a great team, they’re probably favourites to get promoted so it’s a chance for the lads to go and turn up and see how good they are against a top team in the league.”
You can watch Ched's full interview on iFollow PNE.