Lamela on Newport goal: 'This is just the beginning'

Erik Lamela hopes his luck has changed in front of goal.

The Argentine international finished off a slick move to complete our 2-0 victory over Newport County in Wednesday night’s FA Cup fourth round replay for his first goal since his return from injury.

It was also the attacking midfielder’s first strike at Wembley but, according to the 25-year-old, it’s been somewhat overdue.

The Newport replay was his 15th appearance since coming back from a 13-month lay-off at the end of November and Erik confessed: “I’ve had some chances since but always something was happening to stop it going in. But this time the ball went in and I hope it changes my luck now!

Having now played games and scored a goal since his comeback, Erik sees his next challenge as nailing down a regular spot in the team.

“For me, this is just the beginning,” he continued. “Now I want to keep playing. To be playing, for me, is so important because I need to feel the game. When you’re injured you can do nothing – just wait. Now I’m back and working every day to get better.”

Speaking about seeing off Newport at the second time of asking, following the 1-1 draw at Rodney Parade on January 27, Erik added: “I didn’t play the other game but it was tough – I watched it on the TV. The conditions were not the best to play but this time we played good football, the pitch was much bigger than last week, we worked on some good actions and we created some good chances. We should have won by more goals but it’s okay, we will try next time to score more. For me, because I scored, I can enjoy the moment, but enjoy it more because we won and we stay in the competition.”