Luke Williams labelled Sam Austin 'a shining beacon' when emphasising the importance of his Notts County squad following their 3-0 win over Woking at Meadow Lane.
In a rampant second half display, the Magpies scored three times in the space of 20 minutes, with Austin netting a brace before producing a teasing cross for substitute Aaron Nemane to bundle home his second goal of the campaign and move them to within a point of leaders Wrexham.
When previewing the fixture this weekend, Austin explained the importance of the entire squad throughout the course of this season having been used as a substitute for large parts of the campaign - but today he once again proved how invaluable he is to this group of players.
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"Sam is the one who is the shining beacon for me at the moment," said Williams on detailing how his substitutions against The Cardinals proved pivotal in the result.
"It's easy for guys that play every week to have that attitude, but as you know Sam is often removed from the starting line-up when it's fair to say that he deserves to play.
"But his attitude is absolutely first class and he respects his team-mates in the best possible way because when he is replaced by one of them, he does not think it's a disgrace to be replaced by another player, he respects the players that come in because they are good players as well and they deserve to play.
"This is what we need from everybody because we didn't get in this position by relying on one or two superstars, we got into this position as a group."
Another substitute who played a vital role in Austin's second of the evening was Cedwyn Scott, firing a inch-perfect pass into the path of the Notts number eight to finish beyond Will Jaaskelainen.
Having suffered the disappointment of seeing his injury-time penalty saved by Ben Foster in the defeat at The Racecourse Ground on Monday, Williams explained that his contribution for the team will come as a relief for his striker after a difficult couple of days.
"It's so good because it was devastating for him and now we try to reassure him and his team-mates try to reassure him because it takes so much bravery to take that penalty in that moment.
"He demanded it and was desperate for the ball and we need to recognise that first and foremost, but today was a relief for him to get out there and try to make good actions in a game."
Along with Scott's introduction, the Notts head coach also handed a debut to newest recruit Junior Morias having arrived at Meadow Lane with a minor injury sustained at Dagenham and Redbridge shortly before signing a month ago today.
It proved to be an encouraging cameo appearance from the 27-year-old, almost marking it with a goal late on as his bouncing effort was saved by the Woking keeper.
With just two games remaining of the National League season, Williams was on hand to reiterate the importance of Morias' timely return ahead of the end of season run in.
"It was important because we need our full compliment of players - it has been a long time now with just Macca up front, and it's impossible for him to not feel some form of fatigue as brilliant as he is.
"We need maximum firepower and people to feel ready, we need them to get over that first and had to wait for Cedwyn to get back from that long lay-off and get back into his stride to make sure that we are at our most powerful going into this crunch time."
