Tom Owen-Evans has dubbed his match winner at Exeter as “one of the best moments of my life” as his strike secured the Exiles all three points, writes Ryan Robinson.
Owen-Evans lashed home in-front of the County fans from 25 yards to put the Exiles only three points away from safety.
And he says he will cherish the memory of his first professional goal.
He said: “One of the best moments of my life, I’ll remember that for the rest of my life.”
He added: “Not many people would have fancied us to come here and get the three points so it’s cut the gap further. It’s a massive result and I think people will be looking at it and saying we are well and truly in it. It’s a massive statement to the division.”
Owen-Evans and his team-mates also had to deal with a delayed kick-off and being struck in traffic on the approach to the stadium.
But the 20-year-old says that caused no disruption to the team.
“We had a warm-up that wasn’t really shorter than usual so we were all saying in the changing room that there could be no excuse, we had to go out and perform despite the disruption.”
St James Park seems to be a second-home for Owen-Evans after also scoring the winner there in the FA Youth Cup – with Mike Flynn again as manager.
He said: “That’s two in two for me now. It was unbelievable to score in front of our fans, especially when we needed the three points so badly. It’s a dream come true.”
County can move out of the drop-zone for the first time since November if they overcome Yeovil Town on Friday and other results go their way.
And Owen-Evans remains optimistic ahead of the run-in.
“We’re too good a team to go down,” he added.
“It was all about putting the belief back into the team. The gaffer tells us there is no pressure and that he believes in us, so that’s what we’ve doing and now we’re picking up points.”
He continued: “This is a club in my heart so to stay up, when you looked at the situation a few weeks ago, to be part of a hopefully success story would mean a lot to me.”