Blackburn Rovers: Sam Szmodics on 'mind blowing' milestone

The forward achieved the impressive milestone after firing Rovers to victory at Leeds over the weekend.

“I don’t really think it has sunk in, what it means to me and the boys,” he told RoversTV. “It is massive, but more importantly to come and win the game.

“Even playing at a place like Elland Road, a lot of players probably don’t get to do it. It is some arena and the home fans were brilliant, the away fans were even better.

“We fully deserved it, we worked our socks off. We needed a reaction and to bounce back, and there is no better place to do it.

“I had a chance first half, the goalie made a great save off my left foot to be fair. It is all about staying in the game and at the minute I feel like, if I get half a chance, I will put it away.

“Tyrhys (Dolan) did brilliantly with the assist, he played me in and I was confident enough to put it away.”

It was a big response from the side to pick themselves up after a heavy defeat at Bristol City several days prior.

“It is more relief than anything because we are such an honest, hard working team,” Szmodics continued.

Shearer was the last Rovers player to hit 30 goals in a single season (Image: PA)

“Nobody really came out and said anything on Wednesday night because it was such a freak result for us. How do you beat Sunderland 5-1 and then lose 5-0?

“We have had some tough games this season and we needed a reaction. I think we thoroughly deserved the win – Pearsy, the defence, midfield and even the lads who didn’t play a part. Everyone is together and we all deserved that win.

“The fans travelled in their numbers to Bristol and we gave them an embarrassing performance really. We got beaten up and went under, and that is just not us.

“I would like to apologise for that but (Saturday) was hopefully one of the best days of their footballing lives, and mine. Coming to a place like that and winning, they were behind us all game.

“It was tough at points, with 36,000 there, but we grinded it out and wouldn’t have got the win without them.”

Leeds are battling to secure promotion back to the Premier League and the neutrals didn’t give Rovers much of a chance ahead of kick-off.

“That probably worked in our favour, the manager said before the game that no-one was expecting anything,” the Irish international explained.

“Everyone was speaking about Leeds and you have to respect them, they are a massive team and doing brilliantly this season.

“People thought we would come, get beaten up and lay down but we stood up to every challenge.”

However, Rovers don’t have time to rest on their laurels ahead of another important fixture against Sheffield Wednesday this weekend.

“It is the biggest game of our season,” said Szmodics. “Leeds was the biggest game of our season, we came and did what we needed to do.

“Sheffield Wednesday is now a massive game, we know they will be bringing six or seven thousand.

“We will fight like we have all season on the pitch, with help from those in the stands, and hopefully there will be no problems if we play like we did (on Saturday).”

While it has been a hugely successful season for the 28-year-old on a personal note, he insists nothing would be sweeter than securing survival.

“I have had a brilliant season and really enjoyed it,” he reflected. “If we can avoid relegation, it is the biggest achievement for me.

“We showed (on Saturday) how together we are, the boys love it and we are a massive family. We don’t deserve to be down there. It sounds cliché but you can’t do it without the lads, the manager and the fans.”

The last Rovers player to hit 30 goals in a single season was Alan Shearer, who recorded a video congratulating Szmodics at the weekend.

“To even have my name in the same sentence as Alan Shearer is mind blowing because of the type of player he was,” Szmodics grinned.

“I just have to keep scoring and adding to the tally. There are three games and hopefully I can add a few more.”