George Moncur likened his last-gasp winner against Wigan to his goal of the season contender against Portsmouth last season.
The substitute, on for his first appearance since September, stroked home three minutes into injury time to set off jubilant scenes at Kenilworth Road as they completed a six-minute comeback to sink fellow strugglers, the Latics. 2-1.
It was reminiscent of the celebrations last term when Moncur fired in a late free-kick against League One promotion rivals Pompey, for a winner and a result which then manager Mick Harford admitted was the moment he thought the Hatters could go up.
Speaking of his latest winner, the midfielder said: “It was unbelievable. It sort of reminded me of the Portsmouth goal actually, quite a lot because it was near the end. I think this one was a bit later actually, but the ball fell to me lovely, I just managed to not panic and slot it in the far corner.
“I thought the three points were definitely deserved. All the boys did so well and I’m so happy with the goal and for the team and hopefully we can take that into Tuesday’s game.”
Last season, his Pompey strike resulted in a huge knee slide celebration, while yesterday Moncur sped off around the pitch ripping off his shirt.
He joked afterwards: “I tried to run the clock down a little bit and also get my GPS miles up on the monitor because I haven’t really played for a while and I needed to get them in.”
The result, including an 87th minute leveller from Callum McManaman against his former side, moved Town four points above Wigan and the Championship drop zone and was a welcome tonic after the 7-0 thrashing at Brentford last week.
Moncur said: “It’s a credit to all the boys because they’re such a good set of lads in the changing room. We’ve got a great team spirit and I think that’s what we had last year, massively, that got us through and got us the title.
“Now, we’ve got some great news lads that come in, in the summer, we all get on really well and I think that’s what you need as a team. I don’t think there are many teams out there with that spirit.
“If we can just carry that on, football does the work on the weekends. I know the results haven’t gone as well as we thought, but if we stick to what we know and what we do then I’m sure we’ll be fine this year.”
