Swansea City’s FA Cup hero Wilfried Bony feels it was crucial that his side overcame Birmingham City at the first attempt.
Victory means they avoid a replay which would have added to their busy fixture schedule.
The Swans are currently fighting on three fronts, with their FA Cup challenge being combined with a relegation battle in the Premier League, while they also have a two-legged Europa League tie against Napoli to prepare for in February.
Match highlights: Birmingham City 1-2 Swansea City
A Cup replay against Birmingham would have given Michael Laudrup’s side added another game to the list – but the boss might just have taken a draw when his side were trailing 1-0.
Fortunately, Bony came off the bench at half-time to not only equalise but hit the winner, striking twice in the space of three minutes.
The striker said: “We have a lot of games so for us it was really important to win today.
“I knew before the end of the first half that I would be coming on to play, so I said ‘ok, I have to be ready’. That’s my character, I try to push my team whenever I’m on the pitch.
“I don’t know what the manager said [to the other players] at half-time because I was warming up on the pitch, but as a team I knew we had to win this game, so we were going for that in the second half.
“It’s going well for me in The Cup, but there are a lot of games to come.”
Wilfried Bony Swansea City
"We had more patience and more chances to score, so we did it.”
Bony has now scored three goals in two FA Cup ties, having also bagged the 90th-minute winner in the Swans’ 2-1 victory over Manchester United at Old Trafford in the Third Round.
The Ivorian says he was particularly pleased with the first of today’s strikes, which came just after he was denied by an excellent challenge from Blues’ Mitch Hancox.
“It was a good reaction,” he said. “The first one I missed because I didn’t see the defender who made the nice tackle to push the ball away, so when the second one came I said ‘I’m going to score’.
“It’s going well for me in The Cup, but there are a lot of games to come so I just try to do my best and continue this way if I can.
"It’s a really important win for us because it gives us good confidence.”