Chris Wood bagged a historic brace to fire New Zealand into the semi-finals of the Oceania World Cup qualifying tournament - and himself into All Whites folklore.
The Newcastle striker netted twice during Monday night's 4-0 win over Fiji as New Zealand bid to qualify for the World Cup for just the third time in their history. The All Whites last qualified for the tournament back in 2010.
But as well as doing his bit to keep his country in the hunt for the showpiece tournament in Qatar, the 30-year-old also etched his name into the history books by surpassing Vaughan Coveny to become New Zealand's all-time leading goalscorer.
Wood drew level with Coveny's record of 29 international strikes on the stroke of the interval. And he then went one better with a sublime curling strike to claim the record outright to cap a memorable night for the Mapgies striker.
Unsurprisingly, the seismic achievement was the talk of the match after the formalities had been concluded at the end of the night. And Wood - who made his debut for the All Whites over a decade ago aged just 18 - lifted the lid on how much it meant to claim the accolade that he'd 'dreamed' of as a kid.
"It means a lot. It's been sought after for a very long time,'' Wood revealed. "I dreamed as a kid trying to get to it, so to break it is fantastic and hopefully I can add a few more goals across the course of my career."
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Wood and New Zealand still have one more game to play in Group B, against New Caledonia on Thursday, before they can turn their attention to their semi-final showdown.
The big striker made headlines back in January when he was pinched from Newcastle's relegation rivals, Burnley, in a controversial £25million move. However, his early days at St James' Park were a struggle, with Wood only netting his first Magpies goal earlier this month at the eighth attempt.
However, Wood's arrival on Tyneside has coincided with a strong run of form. Newcastle have soothed their relegation fears in recent weeks with an eight-match unbeaten run, although they did suffer consecutive Premier League defeats for the first time since December prior to the international break.
