Harry Cornick has tasked Bristol City to continue learning the dark arts if they want to build a winning momentum and put themselves in a position to challenge for promotion next season.
Nigel Pearson has previously called on his side to become more street-wise and improve their game management, particularly when they are holding onto a lead. The Robins conceded twice in six minutes against Middlesbrough after Cornick's first City goal put them in a commanding position at the beginning of the second half following Sam Bell's opener.
It was Cam Pring's poor clearance that contributed to Boro's equaliser with Pearson suggesting he should have put it into Row Z to clear the danger. However, there's no doubt that City have improved from winning positions over the last 12 months.
From the 23 games City have been ahead this season, they've won 13 of them, drawing seven and losing just three, averaging two points. Last season, they took the lead 29 times, winning 15, drawing seven and losing seven, averaging 1.79 points.
Cornick knows what it takes for a team to be successful. He was part of the Luton side that earned back-to-back promotions from League Two to the Championship, while featuring 38 times as the Hatters reached the play-offs last season under Nathan Jones.
The 28-year-old can see parallels with the current City set-up in comparison to his former club, who currently sit third, but there's still room for improvement, particularly when it comes to game management.
He said following the draw against Middlesbrough: "We probably need to learn the dark arts more to try to get used to winning because you can see what happens when sides go on winning runs.
"When you get that winning feeling around the camp it's so hard to get out of that feeling and it's an infectious bug. When I was at Luton we had it last season when you win a few games, get the confidence and suddenly you feel like world-beaters and you play tough sides and keep picking up results and valuable points.
"We've got a great mix of experience players who have done it before and young players coming through who have so much talent. They're improving every day and playing so well so if we can keep hold of them and keep pushing on, there's no reason why we can't get promoted next season.
"There are some great young players and there's no excuses from the club, we've got everything we need to be a Premier League side it's just about putting the pieces together, getting a good start, and carrying on the momentum."
Cornick undoubtedly turned in his best showing in a City shirt against Middlesbrough following a mixed-bag of performances since his January deadline day move. There were plenty of positives in his substitute appearance against Stoke four days prior to suggest he's settling into life in BS3.
His first goal will undoubtedly lift the pressure off his shoulders but his all-round play caused problems all game. His endeavour was rewarded with an assist for Bell while he provided a golden opportunity for Andi Weimann in the first half who was denied by an excellent save.
By his own admission, the forward has needed time to adapt to new surroundings and new team-mates, but he confirmed he is now gelling with his fellow strike partners and there's plenty more to come. He added: "It was a great feeling (scoring), it's been a while coming and you can't really ask for much more when Nahki squares it and you're a yard out, I couldn't really miss so it's a great feeling to get my first goal and hopefully there's plenty more to come until the end of the season and we can kick on.
"It takes time to get to know each player and you come in and I've played against Nahki and Andi Weimann for years but when you come in and learn what they're going to do. It takes time to learn what people are going to do. You have to take time and learn in training what they're going to do and learn how Anis is going to cut on his right foot when he's on the left side, and how Andi wants to play balls in behind.
"I know what Nahki wants me to do, I know what Andi wants me to do and it's learning from each other to find out how we can improve each other and work together to get the end results and today (Monday) we got the end results - two goals but it's a shame we couldn't hold on.
"We're starting to all gel together now and we have some great striking options in this club and some great young players proving that we should be scoring a lot of goals and kicking on now.
"We've got some great games coming up, Sheffield United, Burnley, QPR who are fighting for their lives and Rotherham who are down there. Lots of games where teams are fighting for points and we're the same. We want to finish as high as we can and take that confidence into next season because it's a club where we should be doing better than we are maybe. Pushing on and keep improving and see how high we can finish."
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