MATT Crooks hopes the goals will start to flow now that he has got his first in the Football League.

Accrington Stanley’s versatile midfielder could not have timed it better to get off the mark, his late strike grabbing a point at Notts County after the Magpies had just been reduced to ten men.

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Crooks — who scored his first goal for the Reds in the Capital One Cup first-round clash with Hull City but went on to miss in the shootout — levelled following Graeme Burke’s strike.

Crooks described the feeling as a relief, especially as the point could prove crucial as the season wears on for John Coleman’s ambitious young side.

He said: “It all happened really fast. I saw it bouncing in front of me and I shouted at Billy Kee to get out of the way. I hit it as hard as I could — and luckily it went in. There is no feeling like it, especially away from home. We only had a few fans but they were very loud.

“It is just relief. I always believed that I could score — it just was not happening for me last season. But hopefully it starts clicking into place this season.”

Although pleased with a point, against a team expected to push for promotion this season, Crooks said it could have been more.

The 21-year-old said: “It was a good point in the end, especially getting it the way we did. Towards the end we might have even nicked it, with a few good balls in from the wide men. We just could not get on the end of them. But it is a good point and it could prove vital at the end of the season.

“We wanted to try to control the game from the start like we did at Morecambe with men in midfield and trying to keep possession of the ball. I do not think we did it as well as we could have but we dug in to keep a clean sheet in the first half and we tried to take it from there. When we went a goal down in the second half we showed our character again to come back into it.”

Of the season so far, Crooks said: “We have played well and had some good performances. When we have played better we have not got the results and when we have not played as well we have got the results. Hopefully we will start performing and getting the points as well.”