City midfielder says he knew his match winner was going in as soon as it left his boot
City midfielder James Bailey says he knew his match-winning strike against Oldham was going in as soon as he hit it.
The on-loan playmaker handed City three points over the Latics in the most dramatic fashion at the Ricoh Arena, netting with the last kick of the game after Matt Smith's 89th minute equaliser cancelled out Stephen Elliott's opener.
Oldham looked to be on course for a share of the points when Bailey, returning to the squad after a brief stint out injured, rifled a shot into the top corner from just inside the area to put the Sky Blues within touching distance of the play-offs.
“The gaffer has put me straight back in and thankfully I have repaid him with a goal," Bailey said.
“I had a feeling when I hit it. I caught it quite nicely but nine times out of ten that goes straight over into the car park and the fans are raging at m
“That’s the difference now. Before we gave away sloppy goals and just let it go by but now we keep plugging away and luckily we got a goal.
“We go out there thinking we are going to win not hoping we win or get a point. We know we can go out and batter teams.
“We are just one goal off the play-offs now and that gives us a lot of belief."
However sweet his winning strike was though, Bailey admitted he was was unable to celebrate due to the combination of tiredness in his legs following his brief spell on the sidelines and half a dozen of his teammates piling on top of him in celebration.
"I ran off and then I thought I was going to run off again but my legs started killing me so I gave up and the lads all piled on me."