Curtis Fleming saluted hard-working hero Chris Martin after Bristol City snatched a dramatic 3-2 victory at Peterborough.
The City frontman fired his fourth goal of the Sky Bet Championship season with five minutes of a breathless battle to go.
That Martin strike clinched a fourth away win for City and provided cheer for manager Nigel Pearson, who is suffering from Covid-19.
It also ensured they stole the headlines from one of their former flops as Sammie Szmodics, who endured an unhappy spell in City colours after a big-money move from Colchester, bagged a brilliant brace for beaten Posh.
Bristol City assistant Fleming said: “It was a huge goal from Chris. We are a team that is built on hard work and that starts from the front.
“People have to realise what Chris gives the team. He gives us a foundation in games because of the way he holds the ball up so well and he showed the quality he has.
“We’ll be expecting plenty more from him. His job is not done as we have more than a few games left.
“We needed to bounce back from the defeat at Millwall in midweek, but we didn’t get too low after that defeat and we won’t get too high after this win.
“Peterborough were very good and asked us a lot of question, but we stuck to our beliefs and got success in the end.
“There’s no doubt the result will have cheered Nigel up. He’s had a couple of tough days but like us all he’ll feel a little bit better with three points.”
Szmodics broke the deadlock with a 25-yard cracker midway through the first half before City turned the contest.
Posh defender Nathan Thompson headed a Matty James corner into his own net for a 34th-minute leveller under pressure from Rob Atkinson before George Tanner grabbed his first City goal five minutes later.
Szmodics quickly restored parity with a terrific header from Dan Butler’s cross two minutes before the break and the sides remained level until Martin struck in the 85th minute.
The winner arrived seconds after Posh saw a penalty appeal ignored by referee David Coote as Harrison Burrows tumbled in the box.
Posh boss Darren Ferguson said: “It’s a sore one to lose that game, but we’re just not getting the breaks.
“The penalty incident is a big turning point. Harrison goes to shoot and one of their players puts both hands on him.
“I’ve seen it back and it should be a penalty kick, but it wasn’t given and they went up the pitch and scored the winner.
“It changes the game as we had Sammie on a hat-trick who would probably have scored, but the referee was very adamant it wasn’t a penalty.
“Our attacking intent was good but the trade-off was that we needed to be better defensively as we conceded poor goals.”
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