Joey Barton paid tribute to Leon Clarke after the striker scored his first goal back from a four-month layoff in Bristol Rovers' 3-2 win at Scunthorpe United on Tuesday.
A second-half substitute, Clarke put Rovers 3-0 up with a trademark finish from the veteran scorer, rounding goalkeeper Rory Watson and sliding into an empty net to put the Gas in cruise control.
Clarke shrugged off the embraces of his teammates to rush to the dugout and hug physio Stuart Leake and sports therapist Leighanne Kelly, who supported his recovery after surgery.
Late goals from Sam Burns provided a nervous finish for the Gas at Glanford Park, but they clung on to the three points to climb to 13th in League Two, eight points off the play-off places with games in hand.
Barton feared Clarke's career was over when he suffered a recurrence of a serious hamstring injury at Hartlepool in September, but the former Sheffield United striker has cut no corner is in his rehabilitation and is set to play a pivotal part in the second half of Rovers' season.
"When he got injured at Hartlepool, I thought the worst," Barton said. "I thought that might be a horrible end to a great career.
"Credit to Clarkey, he’s worked really hard to get himself ahead of the diagnosis and for us to have the ability to get him onto the pitch, he brings that quality and it was his goal that was the difference.
"It was fortunate that Clarkey got that goal because we’d have thrown points away here tonight, had he not finished the opposition."
Josh Grant and Antony Evans had put Rovers two to the good at Glanford Park.
Barton, of course was delighted by a win on the road and three points on the tally, but he said the closing stages of the game offered something of a reality check to his players.
And he was irked by their profligacy with several good chances to increase the lead not converted.
He said: "Even though they got two late goals I wasn’t particularly worried due to the fact we were so in control.
"You’re thinking it’s going to be a cricket score. We’re disappointed we haven’t gone on and put five, six or seven on them, such were the opportunities we created in the second period.
"Credit to them, they got a goal and they hadn’t scored in a while and it brought a bit of belief to a young side. For the last minute or so, they had half a chance when they should have been dead and buried.
"If we had drawn here tonight we would have felt like we had dropped points. That’s no disrespect to Scunthorpe, it’s just part of the business of football.
"We got what we came for, which was maximum points, but as I say, had the game finished at the 90thminute, even then at 3-0 it would have been a frustrating victory because we should have been at least six goals to the good and that’s part of the progression.
"It’s great for me really because it guards against complacency and in reality, if the lads had been more clinical we could be talking about five, six or possibly even 7-0, such was the dominance in the second period.
"I’m not being disrespectful to Scunny, they have to chase the game because of their perilous league position. For me, that’s the only black mark I’ve got against the result – the two late goals.
"Really pleased. That’s followed on from a good performance at the weekend with another good performance and three points, albeit with work to do and improvement to find."
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