AFTER a six-month wait, Liam Boyce finally made his Championship debut for the Brewers and immediately showed fans the goal-scoring skills that persuaded Nigel Clough to bring him to the Pirelli Stadium.
The summer signing from Ross County suffered an ACL injury in a pre-season game at Shrewsbury but has made a remarkablly swift recovery and came off the bench in today's 3-2 defeat at Aston Villa to poach a goal.
He said: "I didn't know if I would be playing for a couple of weeks yet but Ben Turner had to come off and I was just delighted to get back on the pitch again and it felt surreal having not played for so long to get a goal.
"I was having to get used to the pace again having been out so long but think I did alright.
"I always try and gamble as I had that drilled into me at Ross County. They always said make your runs and you never know what will happen and I was in the right place at the right time today to get the goal.
"I wasn't going on expecting to score, I was just trying to get minutes, but you still try and get in the right place at the right time.
"This season has been up and down for us. On Tuesday we weren't happy with the way we played but today it was the best passing performance we have had this season and now hopefully we can take that back to our home ground and change fortunes there.
"The gaffer said we were coming here to be brave and get on the ball. If we had been a bit more ruthless we could have got a point or even all three.
"Watching the games you sit there thinking what you might have done and it's tough that way, wanting to help but being so far away from it. But now I'm back, I have scored and hopefully that can continue. I will give everything I can for the team and try to put a good performance in every week."