Norwich City loanee Tony Springett 'can't stop smiling' after his first senior goal earns Cobblers dramatic late point at Oxford United

The 21-year-old Norwich City loanee could hardly have picked a better moment to score his first ever senior goal. ​

With Cobblers trailing 2-1 as the 93rd minute approached against promotion-chasing Oxford United, Springett showed tremendous composure to find the net – admittedly with the aid of a deflection – and rescue a terrific away point for his new team.

"I’m just so happy,” beamed Springett afterwards. “I came on quite late but I wanted to make something happen and to score my first goal feels amazing.

"My parents weren’t here – it’s the first game they’ve missed! But I’m pretty sure they would have been watching and I’m very excited to give them a call later. They text me before the game and I think when I get back to my phone my mum would have sent me a couple of emojis!

"It was a shame not to have them here but the Cobblers fans were more than enough and I’m never going to forget this moment. The sound when I scored and being able to celebrate with the fans at the end is a memory I’ll always cherish.”

Will Hondermarck rose well to head home Marc Leonard’s wonderful cross after Josh Murphy had blasted Oxford ahead. The hosts then appeared to have won it through Will Goodwin’s 81st minute goal, only for Springett to provide a late twist when converting Sam Hoskins’ low cross.

He added: "Sam did really well and I had a bit of work to do but as the ball came towards me, I saw the defender come across so I tried to stay composed, take it round him and then hit it.

"I just saw the back of the net ripple and I had no idea how to react! The celebration probably wasn’t the best so I’ll have to work on that.

"I actually didn’t realise it was so late in the game, I was caught in the moment and that’s why I started running back to the halfway line to see if we could go and score another one.

"But the lads were telling me to go and celebrate with the fans and that was amazing because they were so loud all game and their support gave us a massive boost so I want to say thank you to them.

"You can’t get the smile off my face at the moment but I don’t want this to be my last goal. That first one is always the hardest to score but now I’ve got it, confidence should be flowing through me and I’m ready to score some more.”