Midfielder Regan Slater scored his first ever league goals in the 4-0 victory over Swindon on Saturday and we caught up with him shortly after full time to get his thoughts on what were two unbelievable strikes.
“Both goals were a bit of a shock to me to be honest!” he joked. “They meant a lot with them being my first league goals.
"The first one was important, with it coming just after half time, because it put us in a great position in the match. After that we just pushed on. It was nice for me to get two goals, but it was a great three points as well."
On his first goal, just after the break, he said: “As soon as Ash [Nadesan] headed it down it bounced up nicely and I knew I had to hit it.
"I caught it cleanly and it flew in, so I’m happy as Larry! Scoring goals isn’t something I do too often so I didn’t quite know what to do when it hit the back of the net.
"I always look at knee slides when players score and think they look pretty good, but I’ve never had chance to do it myself, so that was the first thing in my mind."
“It did mean a lot for me to get the goal," he admitted. "It was even better with it being at such an important time of the game. We didn’t get off to the best of starts in the first 15 minutes or so, but after that we really dug in.
"It was nice for me to get my first two league goals but I also know how much the result and performance meant to the rest of the lads as well."
“I thought I’d messed up for the second one," he revealed. "Once I cut inside I could just see loads of bodies coming to me, but I managed to squeeze it into the bottom corner.
"It's a fantastic feeling and you could tell the other lads were pleased for me as well."
Having joined the club on a season-lomg loan from Sheffield United in the summer, he also admitted that he's found it easy to settle having been made to feel so welcome here in Cumbria.
"I know I’m only young but the rest of the lads in the squad are making being here really easy for me," he said. "They’re all so easy to get along with, they make you feel really comfortable, and I’m living with a few of the boys as well, so that really helps because you get to know a lot about people."
“It’s been nice to get a bit of a run in the team as well because that's helped with my confidence. I just want to keep the games coming and I think my confidence will keep growing with the more games I play."
On recent team performances, he told us: “Tuesday [Stoke] was disappointing because we went out, but we took the positives and looked at it as still being unbeaten. because the game was technically a draw.
"The league is very important so to go to Swindon and get the three points was massive.
“I like to think I’m starting to make a bit of impression now and I know goals are something I definitely need to add to my game. I’ve found myself in some good positions without the shots going in, but thankfully they did at the weekend.
“I think Swindon was probably one of our best performances of the season once those first 15 minutes were out of the way.
"Discipline wise and shape wise we were solid, and we really dug in and worked hard. We just need to keep it going now.”
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