Mark Hughes' decision to recall Chris Baird to the starting eleven against Stoke City on Tuesday afternoon turned out to be an inspired decision from Fulham's Manager.
The Northern Ireland international defender marked his return with an exceptional display. After smashing home two thunderous drives within the first ten minutes of play, Baird delivered a faultless defensive performance as Fulham earned all three points and a clean sheet.
Baird was typically modest when discussing his brace on Tuesday evening, but could not hide his delight at scoring his first goals for the Club since his move to SW6 in the summer of 2007.
“I’m delighted with my first goals for Fulham," Baird told fulhamfc.com. "The first one I couldn’t have hit any better and the second one I knew I was going to take as soon as we won the free-kick.
"Thankfully it went in and I just wanted to smash it as hard as I could and hope for the best. I’m just delighted to have scored two goals.
“I’ve taken a few [free-kicks] in training before that have gone in and I knew after scoring the first goal I was going to take it and thankfully it went in.
"I’m delighted because when you go to Stoke you know you’re going to be under a lot of pressure. They’re a good team and I thought we dealt with them unbelievably well.
"It’s been a tough time lately and we’ve not kept many clean sheets in the past few games. When you drop into the bottom three it’s not nice but now we’re out of it hopefully we can put a good run together and stay away from the relegation zone."
Following Fulham's morale-boosting win, Mark Hughes described his Team's victory at the Britannia as potentially a “season-defining win” and Baird is hoping Tuesday's result will serve the Whites well against Spurs at White Hart Lane on New Year's Day.
"Spurs are flying high," said Baird. "But we’ll take confidence from the win against Stoke and see what happens on Saturday."