Nathan Broadhead admits leaving Everton paved the way for him to finally make his mark at international level with Wales.
The Bangor-born forward was a regular in the age grade setup with Wales, but, due to a lack of game time with the Toffees combined with injury misfortune, Broadhead had a long wait to make his senior bow for his country.
Indeed, his cameo in the second-half of the Euro 2024 qualifier with Croatia came just 11 days before his 25th birthday, although the outing was well worth the wait as Broadhead netted a dramatic injury-time equaliser to earn Rob Page's side a point against last year's World Cup semi-finalists.
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And the Ipswich Town ace says playing regularly in League One has been pivotal to his route to the Welsh first team.
"Throughout the age groups I've always scored goals," he said after the draw in Split. "I believe in myself and I love scoring goals.
"Moving from Everton was the right decision for me, to find a home to play my football and enjoy my football. It's got me a call up for Wales so it's been great.
"Every time I got called up I've been injured. I've had loads of knock backs in my career and the timing's been a bit of an issue with Wales. But this is top of my list and one of the best moments of my life.
"It's an amazing feeling. I've been waiting for this for a long time and to finally get on the pitch and score is a bonus. I'm absolutely buzzing. You can still hear the fans now, amazing."
Broadhead netted five times for Wigan Athletic in the first-half of the current campaign before leaving Everton on a permanent basis to join Ipswich for £1.5m in January.
He wasted no time in making his mark at Portman Road having scored four goals in 11 league matches for the Tractor Boys ahead of the current international break, although, while Broadhead is no stranger to finding the back of the net, the 24-year-old admits a message from Sorba Thomas played a key role in his crucial 93rd minute effort.
"Sorba Thomas told me to gamble on the back post so I thought 'go on then'," explained Broadhead. "I just saw it come to me and I thought 'oh, here we go'. I just tucked it in, thankfully it went in."
Wales' full focus now lies on Tuesday's clash with Latvia at Cardiff City Stadium, and the squad are only too aware that their famous point against the Croatians will count for precious little if they don't earn victory on home soil this week.
"We go into every game thinking we can win and try to get three points," added Broadhead. "To get a point here away from home is massive, so we'll take that and move on to Tuesday."
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