Chris Wood has hailed the "character" in the Newcastle United camp after they cemented their place in the Champions League places with a superb win over Leicester City.
The New Zealand international striker helped himself to his third goal of the season after blasting him from the spot against the Foxes. And that tally is an impressive one given Wood has only started five games in all competitions this season.
Wood insists it is all about the group in the dressing room though and not about personal needs. After climbing to second place in the table, he told Chronicle Live: "It shows the character of the lads in the group.
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"The staff were ready and raring to go but it's a big campaign and the second part of the season is going to be tough, it's a long one. We're only just over a third of the way through so it's going to take a lot of hard work.
"Leicester was a nice performance to get back on track in the league. It's all about getting mentally ready for the game which was a game between two good teams so it was about being prepared to take the second part of the season on and thankfully we were ready.
"It's all about the team and how we build and how we consistently get better. We came on so much from the Bournemouth performance last week. It's another step in the right direction, we just want to keep doing that."
Wood got the nod ahead of Callum Wilson on Boxing Day and put in a good performance against his old club Leicester. Wood knows that every player is battling for their position at the minute with even skipper Jamaal Lascelles and star winger Allan Saint-Maximin sidelined right now.
"I mean that's what it is at the moment and being ready to go," Wood added. "When Callum is not here I want to keep challenging and keep pushing for his starting spot. I'm going to do that with good performances and goals so I need to keep adding that to my game."
Wood showed nerves of steel to fire home a penalty against the Foxes with just 90 seconds on the clock. He said: "I'm very confident in those situations as all our strikers are. It's a good opportunity for me and for the team. It's fantastic that we got the win."
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