We spoke to striker Jerry Yates shortly after full-time on Saturday to get his thoughts on the 4-0 victory over Colchester at Brunton Park.
“Everyone is buzzing with the result,” he admitted. “We wanted to start the Christmas period well because we know we’ve got a lot of games coming thick and fast, so it was nice to get the three points today.
“We know our home form hasn’t been great so it was nice to put in a performance like that in front of our own fans. Hopefully we can really get our home form going now.
“I think once Hallam [Hope] scored our confidence lifted. We played a slightly different formation today to help with the fluidity and I think we got that today and everyone played well."
On a different role playing down the middle, he said: “It means a lot to be able to play as a central striker because I know it’s the manager putting a lot of trust in me.
"Hopefully I’ve done enough today to stay in that position, but I’m just buzzing about today’s win at the moment.
“The gaffer spoke to me earlier in the week about possibly playing me up front if I was fit. Coming off last week was more of a precaution than anything else, because it was sore and I didn’t want to push it and end up being out for a few weeks.
“I haven’t had much of a chance down the middle so far, but he’s shown a bit of faith in me today and hopefully I’ve done enough today with my performance."
“We scored some really good team goals today which was nice," he added. "Dev [Jamie Devitt] played a big part in my goal, and I thought he had a really good game today. He’s always on my back about scoring goals so hopefully I’ve shut him up today!
“That’s my first league goal at home and it’s been a long time coming. I’ve got a couple of goals in the last few weeks so hopefully they’ll keep coming and I can kick on even more now.
“My brother was mascot today as well and my family were up to watch the game, so it was nice to score in front of them. My brother told everyone he met today that I would score, so it was nice to prove him right!"
On wanting to add more goals to his repertoire, he said: “I do get frustrated when I don’t score, but that’s the worst thing you can do as a striker.
"I’ve tried to keep my cool, even after I missed that chance in the first half, and it was great to finally get a goal in the second half. I’m just buzzing.
“I’ve been working on the Ronaldo celebration with Regan [Slater] in training but he wasn’t on the pitch when I scored, so we didn’t get to do it together!"
“It was nice to be involved in the other two goals as well," he told us. "As long as the goals go in and we get the three points I’m not really bothered who gets the assists. Ash [Nadesan] should really have scored the first goal himself and I would have been able to claim that assist to add to it!
“Winning 4-0 against such a top side does give us confidence going into a tough run of games. We’ve got to keep putting those performances in now, we’ve set the bar high and we know we can beat any team on our day, so we’ve just got to keep going.
“We’ve got Crawley away next week and we know that will be another tough game. We’ll be going there full of confidence with our heads held high looking to win the game."
And on his own situation, which sees his current loan deal expire in January, he said: “I am very happy here and I’m playing every week, which is all I want as a footballer.
"It’s all up to Rotherham, we’ll just have to see what they want me to do. Fingers crossed it all gets sorted in the next few weeks.
“The manager asked me if I’m happy here and I’ve told him I am, which I’ve said since I came here. I’m playing every week and I can’t ask for much more than that.”
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