AT a time many people starting questioning Alan Gow's worth to Exeter City, the Scot found the perfect time to remind his doubters of his ability – by scoring twice in the Grecians' 2-1 win over York City.
The Scot has struggled to find the kind of form that made him such an instant favourite with the St James's Park faithful before a serious ankle injury led to a prolonged spell on the sidelines.
Pre-season was disrupted as the former Glasgow Rangers man rehabilitated and with manager Paul Tisdale starting the season with Sam Parkin and John O'Flynn up front, and Gow on the bench, some fans questioned whether it was time to bid farewell to arguably City's most gifted player.
But when O'Flynn limped off with a hamstring injury after just 21 minutes of the York game, Gow came on and made an instant impact by latching onto Arron Davies' header to equalise for the Grecians before netting a superb 72nd-minute winner.
"I haven't had many minutes on the pitch, but that's one of those things in football," Gow said. "People forget that I've only played one 90 minutes since January because I had a serious injury when I ruptured my ankle.
"I probably came back a bit early and I played in the last game of the season and that's the only full game I've played since the end of January.
"I've been working hard on my days off to get fit, so hopefully it pays off. I'm not fit yet, I know that, but once I get fully fit then I know I can play well."
City fell behind when York hit them on the counter attack and former Torquay striker Ryan Jarvis netted on 17 minutes.
Gow soon levelled and after York had dominated the second half, the introduction of Liam Sercombe changed the course of the game for Exeter with Gow smashing a super strike from 25 yards for the winner.