Boro ended a five-goal losing run as they won 3-1 at the bet365 Stadium, with Conway joining Marcus Forss and Finn Azaz on the scoresheet as Michael Carrick’s side closed back to within four points of the top six.
Saturday’s home game with relegation-troubled Derby County represents an inviting opportunity to take another step back towards the play-off places, with Conway delighted to have helped stop the rot against Stoke.
“It means everything,” said the striker. “Everyone knows that run we’ve been on over the past couple of weeks hasn’t been a good one. We’ve been trying hard to put it right, but for some reason it just hasn’t been falling for us.
“I thought everyone put in a fantastic performance (against Stoke), from Trav (Mark Travers) in goal to me up top, everyone to a man was brilliant. We’ve been susceptible to conceding late goals, but even the subs that came on helped us really manage the game well. Credit to everyone, I’m just buzzing.”
With Emmanuel Latte Lath having left Teesside to join Atlanta United last month, the goalscoring pressure on Conway’s shoulders has increased.
Kelechi Iheanacho has failed to hit the ground running following a loan move from Sevilla, but while he might have missed a golden close-range opportunity prior to finding the net on Tuesday night, Conway is showing signs of rediscovering the kind of form that persuaded Boro to shell out around £4.5m to sign the Scotland international from Bristol City last summer.
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“Am I feeling in form? One hundred per cent,” said Conway. “I think getting back into that rhythm of playing games week in and week out (helps), Saturday-Tuesday, Saturday-Tuesday, the Championship is relentless.
“I just try to do my job and score goals. Forget about that one in the first half – I did laugh it off, to be honest with you. Thankfully, we managed to bounce back in the second half like we did and get the two goals and three points. I feel like I’m getting better and better every game and hopefully that continues.”
There has been plenty of doom and gloom around the Riverside in the last few weeks, with Carrick’s job having been called into question and Boro having been all-but written out of the promotion race in some quarters.
Conway admits the run of five successive defeats dented confidence, but insists he and his team-mates already have a renewed spring in their step as they look forward to their weekend meeting with Derby.
“When we’re not winning games, not doing our jobs, it does affect us,” he said. “But when you win games, it starts going the other way. You get your confidence back and you start believing again.
“I think you can see in the manner we won (at Stoke), the way we played, the way we pressed and the way we celebrated at the end, everyone was desperate to do well and are happy to have got the win and are getting that confidence back.
“If we can take that into the next few games leading up to the international break, I think we’ll be right up there again.”
