A first goal in 14 months for on-loan star Josh

On-loan Posh star Josh McQuoid can finally see some light at the end of a very dark tunnel. The Northern Ireland international burst on to the professional scene in dramatic fashion during his first spell with current club Bournemouth, scoring 12 goals in 16 League One matches in the 2010-11 season.

But a serious knee injury slowed McQuoid’s progress down to such a crawl that his goal at Wembley was his first for 14 months.

The 24 year-old opened the scoring in the 3-1 Johnstone’s Paint Trophy Final win over Chesterfield with a close-range finish in the sixth minute after Chesterfield ‘keeper Tommy Lee had failed to deal with Shaun Brisley’s goal-bound header.

McQuoid described it as the best moment of his career. Quite a statement from a man who once scored back-to-back hat-tricks for Bournemouth.

“I ’ve c ome here to pl ay some games and see where it takes me,” McQuoid said.

“And this goal and the re- sult will give me a huge lift.

“It’s my first goal for a while and obviously my first goal for the club so to do it on such a big occasion is a fantastic feeling.

“I c a n’ t r e member t o o much about the goal. I know the keeper saved a header from a corner and the ball came out to me and I managed to tap it in.

“After that I just ran off celebrating with the lads!

“Winning the trophy is a great feeling - something I will remember for the rest of my career and probably my life.

“It’s certainly the highlight of my career so far

“I thought we played well at times and so did Chesterfield to be fair. It must have been a good game for a neutral.

“We defended well when we had to and coped with a lot of what they threw at us.

“Obviously going down to 10 men didn’t make things easy for us. We all had to put an extra shift in, but it was worth it in the end

“Hopefully the win today will act as a great confidence boost for the lads and we can push on.

“There still a few games left to play and it’s all to play for in League One.”

McQuoid is on loan at London Road until the end of the current season.

He made just one appearance in the Championship f o r B o u r n e mout h b e f o r e Posh boss Darren Ferguson snapped him up.

“I like Josh a lot,” Ferguson stated. “He’s still feeling his way back, but I see a top player when I watch him train.

“He did a good job for us at Wembley. Playing behind a quick striker suits him.”