TOM Soares was in the right place at the right time to end Bury’s goalscoring drought and stake his claim to a regular berth in the centre of midfield.

The former Crystal Palace and Stoke midfielder has spent all of his time at Gigg Lane out on the wings.

But after stepping infield to cover for the injured Tommy Miller, the 27-year-old hopes he will not be sent back out wide.

“I do prefer playing in the middle and it is something that obviously the gaffer has looked at,” he said after playing an advanced role in the middle of a diamond midfield formation.

“It is a position I want to play.

“I’m just happy to be in the team but hopefully I will be able to stay in there and do a job.”

Soares is also excited by the prospect of finally realising his potential as a true goalscoring midfielder.

He has three to his name this season but just 21 in total in 214 career appearances.

The Reading-born midfielder believes that a central position will give him the chance to make more runs into the box and up his goal to games ratio.

“It was a long time for the club to go without a goal and it came from a great run from Anton (Forrester),” he said after finally breaking Bury’s sorry record of 436 minutes without a goal.

“He cut it back and as soon it came to me I knew it was a goal. I just had to stay positive and luckily I’ve hit it and it’s gone in the back of the net.

“It’s something I have tried to add to my game so it’s great to get off the mark again and hopefully I will keep getting in the box and keep scoring.

“I have been working hard on it in training and have been getting into positions. The more you do that, the more chance you have of scoring.”

After helping to end Bury’s nine-match winless run, Soares now hopes he can keep his place at the heart of the midfield and inspire the Shakers to go on a run of a different kind.

Bury remain deep in relegation trouble, three points above the League Two drop zone, but they are still only 10 points from the play-offs with six months of the season remaining.

“It’s not too late,” he said.

“The club and the players still have belief in ourselves that we can be up there. That’s the aim and it’s been the aim from the start.

“A few wins and you will be straight back up there. We’ve got a lot of games to play and the boys have all got faith in their ability, so we will keep working hard and see how far we can go.”