Zak Vyner says consistency is key heading into the final stretch of games after confirming the one-year option in his contract has been triggered, keeping him at the club for at least another season.
Bristol City were threatening to go five consecutive away games without a goal until the defender brilliantly headed Sam Bell's cross over Jack Bonham to bring the visitors level at Stoke City in the 72nd minute. Anis Mehmeti completed the comeback in dramatic fashion six minutes before time for a first away win in over two months.
It was Vyner's first goal since a 3-2 defeat against Brentford back in February 2021 - a record he admitted had been on his mind. However, more importantly, the 25-year-old was just happy to contribute to the turnaround following a difficult opening 45 minutes that saw City trail at the break.
"It has been on my mind," he told Bristol Live after the game. "You don't want to just leave it for the strikers, Rob's popped up before this year and it's definitely been on my mind wanting to have a bit more of an impact on the game and the scoreline so thankfully that happened.
"Normally I've been back at set-pieces. I know it was a second phase and Belly got a good ball in and I got a good header on it, good contact and it's gone in so very happy and proud moment, it's been a while.
"We create chances, you can see that today but it's just about putting them away. It's good to put that to bed and take that into a tough game on Monday (vs Middlesbrough)."
Asked what the message was at half-time to inspire the change in performance, he responded: "We just said that was us. Giving away a cheap goal.
"We had the chances in the game in that half, Nahki missed a one-on-one and we didn't take it. We were off the boil from minute one and we just wanted to go out and make an account of ourselves in the second half.
"We were saying that to each other in there to find solutions and we came out in the second half and that's how we should be performing from the start. We started well in games this season but we need to make sure we do well in games instead of one on-one-off, one-on-one-off."
With six games left before the end of the season, victory felt important given the run of difficult games. Middlesbrough are the visitors on Monday with games against Sheffield United, Watford and Burnley to follow. Rotherham and QPR could also be fighting for their lives toward the bottom of the Championship.
"Momentum is massive, if we can take that to Monday now and get a role together," Vyner continued. "We want to be higher in this league, push further on and keep climbing up the league as high as we can.
"As I said earlier on, hold an account to ourselves. If we perform like that in the first half, it's not going to be any fun for anyone.
"That second half is much more normal to us, playing with higher intensity, keeping everything simpler, and taking that into a tough game on Monday will be vital. Hopefully, we can do that."
Vyner also touched upon his immediate future with discussions ongoing over extending his contract. His current deal was expiring at the end of his campaign, but he confirmed a one-year option has been triggered, declaring the academy product will stay in BS3 for another year.
He added: "My option has been triggered so I will be here next year. I'm excited about that so we'll see what happens."
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