Peterborough United's matchwinner had been feeling the pressure, but he always had faith in his ability

The 22 year-old cost Posh a reported £800k when moving from Blackburn Rovers in August and the repayments for that fee started with the only goal of the game in a 1-0 FA Cup first round win over Cardiff City at the Weston Homes Stadium.

Leonard was in the right place at the right time to claim his first Posh goal when the ball rebounded into his path after strike partner Jimmy-Jay Morgan’s shot had been blocked by a defender.

It was a first goal in his ninth start in all competitions leaving Leonard, and his teammates, buzzing with excitement.

"I’m over the moon,” Leonard insisted. “I’ve felt a goal has been coming because I’ve been getting into the right areas often enough, but the pressure had been building on me.

"Not scoring can get to you as a striker, but I’ve never doubted my ability and I know that if you get into the right place the chances will start coming. My eyes lit up when Jimmy’s shot deflected into my path as you can’t make a mess of opportunities like that when you’re a striker. Jimmy was even more buzzing than me, but it was a great feeling and I just headed off to celebrate with the fans.

"it was brilliant to celebrate with them and with my teammates. Hopefully I can kick on now and get a run going in front of goal. I want to score in every game I play.

"It was a good performance, The manager tried to implement his style of play and we did really well with it for 60 minutes. We got tired towards the end, but we kept our discipline and the lads and the back and Bassy in goal did really well.

"We came out of the blocks really well and we could have been two or three up at half-time. We knew they would come at us in the second-half as they are a really good side. They put us under a lot of pressure, but we contained them well. We didn’t want to show them too much respect because even the good teams will make mistakes if you get after them.”