It was an almost reserved Elliott List that faced the media after Stevenage beat Cheltenham Town - almost as if he was still trying to come to terms with what his first goals since a year-long injury meant.

The striker picked up an ACL knee injury in the first half of the first game of last season, putting him out for the rest of Boro's League Two promotion campaign.

But after an aborted return in pre-season, he has been coming off the bench in the last few weeks.

But all the pain and anguish of his road to recovery was made totally worthwhile as he scored twice in the 3-0 success at Whaddon Road.

He said: "It was a nice time to get my first few goals. I should have had four but I'd rather walk off the pitch thinking I should have had that many than not having a chance at all.

"It was nice to get off the mark."

"Trying to get fit becomes the sole purpose of what you're doing, it takes over your life.

"For 12 months I've been thinking about my first goal and getting back to it.

"I'm slowly getting back to the levels that I know I can produce. There is still more to come but I'm getting there.

"Any player who has gone through that injury knows how tough it is and it's moments like this that just make it worth all the effort you have put in."

 

Now though comes something that could be equally as hard, forcing his way into the starting line-up of a squad flying as high as third in League One.

"There's a lot of competition," admitted List. "A lot of people are coming back from injury so we all know we need to be on it, every single day."