Norwich City full-back Max Aarons gave the 2,000 fans at Carrow Road exactly what they were looking for with his winning goal against Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday.
“It’s a great feeling,” he told canaries.co.uk. “We wanted it to be a bit easier than that. In this league, it’s tough to win games, so that was the main thing.
“It was amazing to have fans back in. It’s been a big miss for fans, not being able to come to games. We only had 2,000 in, but it was a great feeling. When we scored, it felt like the whole stadium was full. I’m delighted that they are back in.”
Emi Buendia’s freedom to operate in pockets of spaces across the middle of the attack allows Aarons the license to bomb down the right-wing, while Mario Vrancic is often on hand to play the ball into feet.
“It helps with my game the way Emi rolls in and gets on the ball - it allows me to have free reign on the right side and I enjoy that responsibility,” Aarons said.
“I love playing with Mario. He’s got that quality. It doesn’t matter how he’s feeling or if he’s tired in the game. It’s just so important that he’s there late on in games. He’s got that final pass where he can get his foot on the ball and pick out a nice pass.
“Once I played the one-two, I knew I’d get the ball back.”
City’s ability to break teams down and score late goals is once again becoming a recurring theme, and Aarons insists it’s more about character than fitness.
“It’s a character thing,” he said. “We have the will to win right until the end of the game. After we scored the first, it felt like only one team was going to win and that was us.”
Todd Cantwell and Kieran Dowell are both expected to return to training shortly; another couple of options to help the Canaries unlock stubborn defences.
“We’ve got some numbers coming back in,” Aarons said. “The squad has been through a hard period in terms of injuries, so touch wood we’re coming out the other end of that now. It will be good to see the boys come back.”