Oli McBurnie insists he always knew his goal touch would return despite his recent dry spell.
The Swansea City striker scored twice in his team’s 4-1 thrashing of Reading at the Madejski Stadium on New Year’s Day as the Swans won for the first time in four matches.
The goals were McBurnie’s first since November and helped lift the club to 12th in the Championship table – seven points adrift of the play-off spots.
“I am a striker, I want to score goals and it is frustrating when you go through periods when you don’t score goals,” said McBurnie, after taking his tally to 10 for the season.
“But I know I can score goals. Whatever league I have played in I have scored goals.
“I have to remain confident in myself. The gaffer has always remained confident in me, and the boys have full confidence in me that if I get the chances I am going to score the goals.”
Swansea’s play-off hopes – and a swift return to the Premier League – had seemed to fade after a run of three games without a victory and five defeats in eight fixtures, but a return to winning ways left them seven points adrift of the top six.
“We spoke all week about the bounce back we wanted after some disappointing results on our part and that came out from the first whistle,” added McBurnie.
“It’s not our best performance but that clinical touch is what we had been lacking and it’s a great way to start the year.
“I think it has been coming for a while, we have been having performances where one half has been good and the other has been not so great.
“Today we came out and three goals in the first half is the perfect way to start off.
“We had been in this situation before at Brentford where we knew we could not rest on our laurels and it was important to get the next goal, which we did here and effectively from there it was about managing the game, which the boys did really well.”
Swansea were ruthless, with McBurnie, Connor Roberts and Mike van der Hoorn all on target before half-time.
The visitors added a fourth early in the second period when McBurnie converted a penalty.
Although the hosts reduced the gap in the 77th minute through Callum Harriott, it was little more than a consolation and they are now without a win in 10 matches.
Graham Potter’s team now face an FA Cup third round trip to Aston Villa on Saturday before their Championship campaign resumed with games against Preston, Sheffield United and Birmingham.
