Adam Mills has been impressed with the impact made by new Needham Market boss, Kevin Horlock, during the last fortnight.
Wide attacker Mills came up trumps with the 50th minute winner in the Marketmen's 1-0 home victory over Suffolk rivals Lowestoft Town at a windswept Bloomfields on Saturday.
Mills nodded home Joe Marsden's pinpoint cross, from point-blank range, to wrap up the Marketmen's fifth win in their last six matches.
Although an attacker by trade, Mills was quick to stress the role of a water-tight defence in this fine recent run, especially in the three matches under Horlock.
"We got the job done on Saturday, and we played well, especially the defence," said Mills.
"It was horrible playing in those conditions, it was like being a one-half game for us. We did well in the first half when we were playing against the wind. We got the ball down, and we had a few chances to score.
"It was a great cross for my goal. Joe (Marsden) got down the line and I managed to get in front of my marker and head it in.
"We dropped off a little bit towards the end, which we shouldn't have, because we should really be destroying teams after getting ahead. But we held on, and we're currently on the best run that we have had all season.
"We won the last three games (under former manager Richard Wilkins) before Kevin came in, and we have only conceded one goal in the last three matches under Kevin, which represents a great start.
"We've had a good squad all season, but it just hasn't clicked for us, until now," added Mills.
A product of the Needham Market Academy, Mills also had short spells away at Maldon & Tiptree and AFC Sudbury, earlier in his career, before returning to Needham to score 17 goals in 47 games last season. This prompted a trial at Dagenham & Redbridge, before Mills ended up signing for Step 2 club Braintree Town for the start of this season.
Mills made his National League South debut (aged 22), in The Iron's 2-0 defeat at Bath City in early August, but has been back at Needham since November.
As regards the rest of the campaign, Mills said: "We will see how it goes, but we are looking at finishing in the top 10.
"We've got 12 league games left, and we've still got the two Cups. It's a big game for us on Tuesday evening (tonight's Southern League Challenge Cup semi-final). We want to get into the final."
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