That was precisely the sentiment for Shepparton’s Alou Kuol, who ended his 16-game goal drought in the A-League Men on Sunday night.
The ex-Goulburn Valley Suns gunner has had a less than ideal start to the season in front of goals, but a double dose of sweet net-rippling relief arrived against Sydney FC as he scored a brace to lead Central Coast Mariners to a 2-1 triumph.
His first impact wasn’t on the scoreboard — but it sure was hard-hitting.
Kuol chased down a long ball in the final minutes of the first half, leaping to nod the ball forward ahead of Sydney custodian Harrison Devenish-Meares.
The young keeper clumsily clattered into the Shepparton striker, forcing a red card decision to reduce the Sky Blues to 10 men for more than a half of football.
Kuol cashed in on the advantage during the 58th minute and it was vintage.
The athletic phenom entered orbit to meet a perfectly delivered Storm Roux cross, craning his neck with unfathomable power to blast the ball home at the near post.
Sydney equalised seven minutes later, but the final act was saved for Kuol.
The 23-year-old forward latched on to another teammate’s cross — this time from Mikael Doka — and flicked a header past sub goalie Andrew Redmayne for the second time in less than 15 minutes.
Suddenly, the “Grey Wiggle” wasn’t dancing any more.
The Mariners were able to stave off a wave of late pressure by Sydney to hold on to the three points and move into seventh on the ladder, much to the delight of coach Mark Jackson.
“It’s a very pleasing victory for us today,” he said at the post-game press conference.
“To beat Sydney, such a good team, good players, good way of playing, we knew it was going to be a challenge, but we prepared really well for it.
“I’m so proud of the players who went on the pitch and I’m proud (of) how they responded during the week after the Yokohama defeat.
“They put the work on the training pitch, they showed fight, desire and a lot of thought on the pitch because we had to be good without the ball.”
Jackson also commented on Kuol’s mental aptitude to not lose faith after a 16-game dry spell, praising the young striker for his work rate in any situation.
“He’s a player who works immensely hard for the team and it’s always difficult when strikers are going through a lean spell, (a) barren spell,” he said.
“But we’ve been working behind the scenes with him, we’ve been talking about his positions in the box, his commitment and belief — one of those things, that belief he’s going to score.
“I thought the two goals were fantastic, fully deserved from a very good performance from Alou as an individual.
“But it’s never about any individual for us, it’s about the team, it’s about the collective, and I was delighted with that effort tonight.”
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