STRIKER Cody McDonald was only too happy to take on the mantle of 'super-sub' following his winning goal at Gillingham last night.
The 23-year-old front man came off the bench and made a dramatic impact by firing the Canaries into the area quarter-final of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy. McDonald replaced Chris Martin after an hour of last night's hard-fought match at the Priestfield Stadium and within four minutes of his introduction put City in front.
"It is always nice to come on and score the winner but the main thing was we got the result," said McDonald.
"It is nice to score but to come on and have an impact like it did so soon was nice and the fans showed how important it was to them as well."
McDonald's last goal was City's consolation strike in the opening day disaster against Colchester United and after seeing his fellow strikers in rich goalscoring form in recent games, the former Dartford man said it was good to be back on the goal trail.
"There's been a bit of pressure on me lately with the other boys doing so well. Hopefully I've given the manager a bit of a headache for Saturday by coming on and scoring tonight.
"I've done what the other boys have done when they've had the chance by coming on and scoring. I needed it personally for a bit of confidence and hopefully I can push on from here."
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It was a much-changed City side that triumphed at the Priestfield Stadium last night with first team opportunities handed to a number of Academy products. The performance of the City youngsters certainly left a good impression on the travelling fans and McDonald admitted they certainly didn't look out of place.
"The young lads have come in and done well. George Francomb has come in and done superbly there at right back. He has come in and proved he can obviously do it at this level and I don't think it will be too long until he gets the chance again."
On Saturday morning City will learn of their opponent in the area quarter-final and McDonald would now like to see City go all the way in the competition.
"Chris Martin and Michael Spillane have told us some good stories about getting to the final as they experienced it last year. It is something a lot of us would like to do, go and play at Wembley. Hopefully we can keep the run going that we've started in this competition and get there."
