CONOR Sammon says he has never lost faith in his goalscoring ability after ending his Derby County drought.
Sammon found the net in the Rams' 4-1 victory over Blackpool at Pride Park Stadium on Saturday, having drawn a blank in the previous nine games.
It was his second goal in 13 appearances for Derby since his £1.2m move from Wigan Athletic and his first for two months – the other coming in the 5-1 home win over Watford at the start of September.
There is certainly more to Sammon's game than simply scoring goals and manager Nigel Clough has been pleased with his recent contributions.
After the 2-1 win at Ipswich Town, in which the 25-year-old Irishman created both goals, Clough hailed his display as a "classic centre forward's performance".
And the former Kilmarnock front man insists he has not been feeling under any undue pressure.
"I've always got confidence in my ability to score goals," he said.
"Sometimes, as a striker, you go through spells where things don't seem to fall for you.
"But it's all about making sure you keep believing, which is what I've done.
"I've got a manager who believes in me too, team-mates around me who are full of encouragement all the time.
"I know that my game is about more than just scoring goals.
"I like to be able to help the team in any way possible.
"I've always got belief that I can score goals and cause defences problems.
"So I've never really felt any big pressure."
Sammon got Derby's fourth and final goal against Blackpool in the 65th minute, finishing from close range from Paul Coutts' low cross.
"As a striker, those are the sweetest goals, because it's all about being in the right place at the right time," he said.
"I thought Paul Coutts was brilliant and some of the passes he picked out were superb.
"It was a really neat bit of play from him and Theo (Robinson) on the wing and he's picked me out perfectly to give me a tap-in.
"I'm delighted to get on the scoresheet again."
Robinson bagged a brace, with full-back John Brayford also on target as the Rams banished memories of the previous week's 3-0 defeat at Peterborough United.
Blackpool briefly got back in the game shortly after half-time courtesy of a Tom Ince penalty after Richard Keogh was adjudged to have handled in the box.
"We were very keen to bounce back from the previous week's disappointment and I thought we started the game very well," said Sammon.
"We pinned them back early doors and had some chances. At half-time, we were 2-0 up and right on it.
"We needed to carry it through but it was disappointing to give away a penalty, which I don't think was a penalty.
"The referee said it hit his arm but Richard didn't feel it did. These things happen but the most pleasing thing was the way we carried on and bounced back.
"We didn't let it affect us and we continued playing as we had done in the first half.
"They got a bit of confidence from their goal but James O'Connor made a great block at 2-1.
"That was important and then we got a third goal, which Theo took brilliantly.
"He forced a mistake from their player and went through but he still had so much to do. It was a great finish."
Sammon was pleased with the way they dealt with the threat of a Blackpool side that reached the Championship play-off final last season.
"They've got lots of good footballers in their team and I think we did very well to stop them playing," he added.
"We didn't give them time on the ball. The likes of Tom Ince and Matt Phillips like to drop off and turn and run at defences. But I don't think we let them do that.
"It's a massive three points for us."
cwatson@derbytelegraph.co.uk
