Mark McKenzie told how his gold-plated strike in the Highlands was rich reward for a decade of hard graft at Somerset.
The substitute's late winner at Inverness on Friday night was worth more than £200,000 as Ayr soared to second in the Championship.
And McKenzie, who recently penned a new two year deal, says his moment of glory meant way more having come through the ranks as an Academy kid.
He told the Ayrshire Post: "I've been here since I was 11 and these are the moments you dream about for your club.
"Looking over to the bench and seeing all the emotion on so many faces I've come through with - that's what hit home for me.
"Everyone from Davie White to Tam Tait to Moff to Thommo (Donovan)...those are the guys who've been here with me all these years.
"I've seen how hard you need to work to get these moments and it's amazing for the effort to pay off."
McKenzie entered the fray with Ayr holding a 1-0 lead and sitting pretty in second place.
But Nathan Shaw's late equaliser sent them spiralling to fifth - and staring at a heartbreaking end to the season - before McKenzie's heroics at the death.
He said: "When it went to 1-1, I actually still thought we were in the play-offs. The league is so crazy that every goal seems to mean so much.
"Then Daire (O'Connor) came on and we'd worked all week on our shape for different scenarios in the game.
"Having dropped down to fifth, we needed to really go for it and that's what we did.
"We work hard in training on different types of finishes, so when you're in the moment you try not to think too hard about it.
"You just go back to what you're doing in training and luckily I had the composure to finish.
"It's hard to put into words - it's everything you dream about as a kid. To be pegged back to 1-1 and then score the winner in front of our fans was just incredible.
"We'll enjoy it for a couple of days then quickly need to reset. We have a chance now to go and make the Premiership and we know how massive that would be for this club."
Ayr will face the winners of Queen's Park and Partick Thistle's quarter final play-off with those two sides meeting over two legs this coming week.
United travel to meet the winner in the first leg on Friday, May 19 before hosting the return at Somerset on Friday, May 26.
The play-off final - involving the team finishing 11th in the Premiership - is held over June 1 and June 4.
