Defender George Tanner put in his best performance of the season on Tuesday night, capped off with his first ever league goal – a strike which helped to settle the nerves and seal the points following a late rally from the visitors.
We caught up with him after the game to talk about that three-point and net bulging feeling.
“We started the game really well with two early goals and we sort of grew into it from there,” he said. “It was a bit weird for me at first because I’m good mates with a lot of the Morecambe lads, but you block that out and get on with it after a few minutes.
“They came back at us and it was a bit nervy towards the end, but I’m glad I got the goal because it settled us down a bit and I think we deserved the three points, to be honest.
“I think getting the goal after they’d scored relieved all the pressure. They were coming at us and it went to 2-1, obviously, and they were close to scoring a second. It was a good time to score the third because of that.”
And on finding the net to register his first ever senior goal, he said: “I just had the space to go and attack, so I thought I’d take it forward. There was a bit of room so I thought I’d have a go and I swung a left foot at it.
“It was a great finish in the end so, yeah, I’m buzzing with that. I couldn’t believe it to be honest, because the gaffer is always getting on at me about not shooting enough.
“I just let it go and it was a good finish in the end. I have had a few shots in recent games but that’s the first one where it’s been really close, so it’s good.
“It’s just a shame that the fans weren’t here, but hopefully we can get them in pretty soon because it’ll be good to share moments like that with them.”
With confidence high due to the current run, we wondered what it was like to be part of the dressing room.
“It’s a good place to be,” he commented. “We had quite a slow start to the season but we’ve pushed on really well. The team’s looking very good and we’re all really confident that we can go on and beat anyone.
“We do look at the table, even though it’s still early, because we want to stay up there in the play-off places and keep pushing towards the top end. It’s where we want to be at the end of the season.
“It’s a great bunch of lads and to be getting good results every week is amazing, really. For myself, I had a little bit of a slow start as well, but I think I’m really starting to push on now.
“It feels like I’m improving with every game and hopefully I can keep that form up.”
His performance on Tuesday night earned him the InvestAcc man of the match award, and deservedly so, and not just for the manner of the winning goal.
“I heard my name come over the tannoy and I was buzzing when it got read out,” he told us. “I think under Chris [Beech] I’m developing loads. He’s brought me in here to really push myself on and he wants me to improve with every game.
“It’s just about playing and improving all the time and it’s even better when you’re winning games. We’re all confident going into games that we can go out and beat anyone. That’s the feeling at the moment.
“We’ll take that to Exeter on Saturday. It’s a long way down there so we’ll rest up, recover, travel on Friday and hopefully have another good game.”
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