Kabongo Tshimanga never doubted his ability to produce in the EFL having scored his first goal at the level for Swindon Town last weekend.

In a bizarre quirk, despite his unrivalled goal-scoring record in the fifth tier, scoring 74 goals in 141 appearances, Tshimanga had never managed to translate that to success in the top four divisions during his time with Milton Keynes Dons, Peterborough United, and Fleetwood Town.

But having joined Swindon late in the summer window, he wasted no time in getting off the mark with a lovely finish to start off the rout of Newport County.

Tshimanga said that as excited as he was to get the monkey off his back, he never doubted his capability to score goals at a higher level.

Tshimanga fires home first EFL goalTshimanga fires home first EFL goal (Image: Andy Crook)

He said: “Buzzing, I was delighted [to get off the mark].

“I have always backed myself, to be fair, to be able to do well at this level it was just about being given the chance.

“I am grateful to the manager [Mark Kennedy] that has brought me because he has got a lot of belief in me, in my ability, and it is just down to me to repay him.”

Tshimanga added that he now felt that to kick on it was important that he kept working with his teammates to get increasingly familiar with them and create even more chances to score.

He said: “I have always backed myself at this level to get goals and I am getting into the right areas, so now it is just about getting back onto the training ground and making sure that I work with the eights and get involved a lot more in the games.

“As soon as he [George Cox] gets his head down, you know you have to sprint in the box and get there as quickly as possible.

“We haven’t had a lot of games together but we want to keep developing that and with time it should keep clicking.

“I want to get around the edge of the box, not just for the slip and slide passes but the other parts of the game where they can hit it into me and I can work on my ball roll and trying to create even more opportunities in and around the box for myself.

“I want to get chances and goals in abundance at this level and I have just got to keep growing game by game and I know that that will come.”