Bristol Rovers' last-gasp comeback victory over Crewe Alexandra will live long in the memory for Gasheads, with Joel Senior sure that endings to matches do not come better.
The Pirates were behind heading into the final stages of the contest after Alfie Pond's first-half effort had separated the teams for the majority of the contest, before one of Steve Evans' super substitutes proved to be the difference.
Tommy Leigh, one of three players introduced at half-time, powered a close-range header into the back of the net to level the score before getting his second in stoppage time, firing his strike into the bottom corner to lift the home fans off their feet at The Memorial Stadium.
Speaking to BRTV after the contest, Joel Senior reacted to Rovers' comeback victory, his assist for the first goal, and the Pirates' improving home form.
Joel, a special ending at The Mem today, how does it feel?
"Yeah, it doesn't really get better than that. Obviously, in front of all of our home fans at the end. You couldn't ask for a better ending than that. Obviously, all of the boys, you can see the celebrations at the end.
"All of the boys on the side, all of the boys that were involved, injured boys, the staff, everyone. Altogether, in front of the fans, it was amazing. You can’t ask for a better ending than that."
After a difficult first half, it felt like the game completely changed in the second. Rovers had the better chances and eventually got over the line.
"Yeah, I don’t think we were good enough in the first half at all, but I also don’t think there was much in the game. It wasn’t good enough.
"The gaffer came out at half-time, got into us, changed the shape, and in the second half felt like it was only going to be us. I don’t think they really created a chance in the second half; it was all us. I think we deserved the ending that we got after the second half performance."
For moments, 80-odd minutes, it didn’t feel like the ball was going to drop, but your cross, Tommy’s header. When you put the cross in, could you see him running toward that back post?
"I’d like to say yes, but it was more putting it in an area than anything. As you say, it probably just wasn’t that final bit of quality that we didn’t have for the first 30, 35minutes of the second half.
"Luckily, I put the ball into a good area. It’s a great run from Tommy and a great finish, and then you obviously know what he does for the second goal."
When four minutes go up for stoppage time, does it feel like the game is only going to go one way?
"Yeah, definitely. Obviously, we realised it’s not the most amount of added time, but we’re on the front foot, as soon as the first goal goes in, we’re all running to get the ball back.
"We know the position we're in, and we know we're on the front foot. It feels like it's only going one way, and Tommy comes up with the quality to win us the game."
And how many times have you heard a noise quite like that? Stoppage time winners don’t happen often, but that Mem was loud.
"Yeah, it was great. It was great all afternoon. Obviously, the fans can get frustrated when we don’t play well, and that’sfully deserved, but like you say in the second half, they were pushing us up.
"They are probably the reason that we ended up with the three points today. Obviously, there’s no better feeling than hearing them celebrate the last-minute winner."
There were moments in this season where, at the Mem, there weren’t always those positive results. But four out of five, four wins, two goals in each of those games as well. It feels like things are starting to go in the right direction.
"We’re confident every game that we come here. Obviously, the first half wasn’t good enough, but we knew that we had 45 minutes. It was a bruise, only one down.
"We’re a spirited group, we’re a together group, and we know that if we work hard for each other, then we can easily win a game, and that’s what we did in the second half. Obviously, our home form’s massive for us at the minute.
"We need to try and take it away from home now, but as you say, when we come here full of confidence, then hopefully we’ll come here to get three points, and that’s what we’ve done today and have done in the past few games."
You mentioned that away form there. There’s no better chance to change that than away on Tuesday night. A big boost today against Crewe and now against Barrow in a big game.
"It’s a massive game for both teams, but we’ll go there full of confidence knowing that we’ve played well in the last few games, we were unlucky last week not to get a win, our first half wasn’t good enough today, but we’ve come away with the three points. So, we should be going there full of confidence and a massive game for us."
