The race for the Bristol City golden boot was a topic of conversation in the dressing room at half-time after Tommy Conway's opener on his return from injury.
It was the youngster's 10th goal of the season in his breakthrough campaign to put him one behind strike partner and close mate Nahki Wells following three months on the sidelines with a hamstring injury. Unfortunately, Lucas Joao's second-half header prevented Conway from finding the winner but his 60-minute cameo was a big positive from a frustrating afternoon.
The City duo, whose relationship both on and off the field has been well documented with 12 years between them in age, are providing each other with a source of motivation to claim the award at the end of the season. Nigel Pearson is also using it as an incentive for the pair to find their scoring boots for the final seven games of the season.
"The gaffer came up to me at half-time and said 'how many are you behind Nahki now?' I said 'one' so it's in my mind," Conway said after the draw against Reading.
"We joke about it, and when the gaffer said that to me I think Nahki overheard it but it's good competition because if we're both scoring then the team is going to be doing well. I don't think it's the be-all and end-all, as long as we keep winning games, and if I can score along with the way that will help. If I end up as the top scorer I'll be equally as buzzing.
"If you told me that (hitting double figures) at the start of the season I would have said okay but let's see where we get to."
Conway sat facing questions with mixed emotions. To score after a lengthy and frustrating spell on the sidelines was a reward for the hard graft put in to aid his recovery but he was obviously deflated at the manner in which City threw away two points.
He added: "For me, that's all I want to do is score goals and to get one today (Saturday) on my first game back. I couldn't have put it any better.
"I think for me, I'm not worried about that it's the team that matters and I just wanted to get the three points today and we haven't been able to do that. I can score but if it doesn't help the team win it puts me in that mood where I just want to keep winning and hopefully we can put that right on Friday."
As Pearson mentioned on more than one occasion during his recovery, Conway had been itching to get back into the first-team fold. The striker admitted he found times difficult on the sidelines as he bided his time with the club resisting the urge to bring him back before the international break.
"I spoke to all the boys to be fair (about the injury) they were listening to me because I got injured last year and it didn't really feel the same because I hadn't had a sniff of first-team football.
"But I think with the start I've made this year and the number of games I've played I think it hit me even more and it made me miss it so much more. Being in the gym every day I just had that hunger when I came back on the pitch, I didn't want to have any questions of 'I didn't do this right'.
"I applied myself every day and I like to think it's paid off for me in my performance and hopefully I can keep building on this now, building on my fitness and hopefully I can score more goals.
"The club wants to look after you and make sure it doesn't happen again and in your head, you just want to play. When you speak to people, you need to see the bigger picture.
"There are eight games left, what's the point in trying to rush back for one before the international break which could have happened but it didn't. That break make an extra two weeks of rest on my hamstring which enabled me to be available for this game and now looking back, I see that as well.
"I think the lads have been really good with me speaking to me about that sort of stuff so that put me in the right frame of mind to get over that. You do set yourself targets when you're injured whether that's on the pitch or off the pitch. Like you've got to refocus your mind and I think I've done that."
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