Jim O'Brien has revealed he shut his eyes before firing Notts County's second goal of the afternoon against Scunthorpe as the midfielder produced a fine display on his return from injury.
The 35-year-old had not featured for the Magpies since their 1-0 win over Wrexham back at the start of October after picking up a small tear in his thigh, but returned to National League action in place of Sam Austin in midfield.
The midfielder was back to his brilliant best at Glanford Park, arrowing a low drive into the bottom corner from Quevin Castro's perfectly placed lay-off.
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O'Brien almost doubled his tally for the afternoon five minutes before half time, seeing his deflected effort saved by the legs of Marcus Dewhurst, with Macaulay Langstaff on hand to tuck home the rebound for his 19th goal of the season.
And speaking after the win, the midfielder explained he shut his eyes before taking aim from outside the area, while also explaining how excitement almost took over before Langstaff's goal.
"I have been playing a bit deeper this season, so the chances to get forward are few and far between, it was a nice set from Quevin, I just shut my eyes and stuck my foot through it.
"I should have maybe rolled Macca in, but I got a bit giddy around the box and maybe a bit of a bigger deflection takes it in, but Macca did really well to finish the rebound."
The Magpies went behind in the 19th minute when Caolan Lavery finished smartly beyond Sam Slocombe at his near post.
But similar to boss Luke Williams, O'Brien praised his Notts teammates for showing resilience to get back into the contest, insisting his side controlled the game from the first whistle.
"It can happen, we controlled the game on a difficult pitch from the get-go really," said O'Brien.
"We knew they had decent players so we knew they could hurt us, and in all fairness, I was on my backside because I was marking the striker.
"Me and him are rolling around on the floor then the next thing you know the ball is in the back of the net.
"I wasn't really sure what happened, but it is good to come away from home and go a goal down to show that resilience and that little bit of needle to get back into the game."
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