TOM Bradshaw explained how he always kept faith that goals would come this season and said the bare minimum he will always give is “100 per cent effort”.
Bradshaw scored his first goals of the season with a second-half brace as Millwall turned around a 1-0 half-time deficit after Romaine Sawyers’ 20th-minute strike to defeat Stoke City 2-1 at The Den on Saturday.
Bradshaw had been unlucky this season, particularly in seeing a perfectly good goal ruled out after a wrong offside call in the 1-1 draw against Coventry.
But he got his rewards at the weekend.
“Yeah that was good, enjoyed that one,” Bradshaw said. “I’ve said to my family, it’s been coming. I felt I’ve been unlucky with a couple of chances in previous games.
“I’ve been saying to myself that I just need to keep playing how I’m playing and keep getting in those areas. You know what football is like, sometimes no matter what you do, it just doesn’t hit the net and then you have spells where you turn around, it hits the back of your head and goes in.
“I thought that if I keep getting into those areas then it’ll come and today it did come, it was brilliant.
“It was more the fact we were 1-0 down to get a really important goal to turn it around, it always means more when you score important goals than just scoring the fourth or the fifth in 4- or 5-0 win.
“I think the minimum that I feel I can give is 100 per cent effort. Football is one of those where sometimes it’s just not your day, but the minimum you can do is put in all that you can on the pitch and that is something I hope I always do.
“I’ll always work where I can for the team, defend when I need to and give the team what they need.
“My dad has always been a massive support, from the under-10s, 15s, my girlfriend and little one are at most games, some away games with my little one they can’t get to. They support me through the highs and lows.”
Millwall are 10th in the table with 21 points, the same number as fifth-place Luton Town.
Bradshaw added: “This year is probably our strongest team and depth. When you look at the bench, and the people that didn’t play today, we were missing the likes of Benno [Mason Bennett] and [Benik] Afobe.
“I still don’t think we’ve reached the potential of this squad yet, we just have to keep the run going and see where it takes us.
“Football is all about momentum, there are going to be some fans who don’t agree with what we are doing, or don’t believe in us as much as we believe in ourselves, but I think for any footballer it’s vital to have that belief in yourself.
“I think the first 20 minutes were a bit too deep, we needed to get a bit more on the front foot. Once we did we started to cause them more problems. We got higher as a team and pressed a bit more.
“Everyone works hard in this team. Once we are aggressive with that press and stop teams from playing out and dictating play, then we have a really good chance.”
Image: Millwall FC