Striker on his stunning brace against Doncaster...
SADDLERS’ top-scorer Tom Bradshaw believes his two stunning strikes against Doncaster were the best goals of his career.The 23-year-old striker opened the scoring in spectacular fashion, rifling an unstoppable right-footed volley into the top corner with just five minutes remaining.
He then sealed a hard-fought 2-0 win with an exquisite lob over Rovers keeper Thorsten Stuckmann in the second minute of added time.
“My first goal for Shrewsbury was on my debut and that’s up there, but in terms of finishes, they’re probably the best two finishes of my career," admitted Bradshaw.
“I don’t know where that first one came from! It fell to me and I just thought ‘what have I got to lose?’ I thought it might take a deflection and go in, but thankfully, it didn’t need it and went straight in the top corner.
“The second one, I was through on goal but any striker will tell you that it’s quite a difficult position to be in. You’ve got a lot of time to think about it. There was no real angle to slide it past him and he was quite a long way off his line, so I just thought ‘why not?’
"If you don’t but a ticket, you don’t win the raffle.”
Bradshaw’s brilliant brace were his first goals in five matches.
And the former Shrewsbury hitman, who has now netted seven times in all competitions this term, was relieved to end his mini goal drought.
“I’ve got high standards and if I go a few games without a goal I get onto myself, and so do my dad and my uncle.
“In about the 82nd minute I was thinking that four games (without a goal) is bad, but five games really isn’t great.
“Thankfully I managed to get two goals and I could have had one more as well.
“I want to score as many as possible and help the team after the great start we’ve had.”
Victory lifted Walsall back up to second in League One – one point behind early season pace-setters Gillingham.
“It was a big win,” said Bradshaw. “It was more pleasing because it was still 0-0 after 80 minutes.
"Last season, in that position, we’d rarely come out with a win. We had the majority of the possession throughout the entire game, and it felt like (that goal) was a matter of time.
"Thankfully, we made the breakthrough with five minutes to go.”