Macauley Bonne says he is happy to be “back amongst the goals” after he scored the winner in Leyton Orient’s 1-0 win over AFC Telford United in the first leg of the FA Trophy semi-final.

Bonne scored the only goal of the game in the 54th minute having previously not found the net since January, and the striker is confident he can now contribute to sealing Orient’s passage to the final in the second leg next Saturday.

Speaking to the club’s website after the game, Bonne said: “It’s nice to be back amongst the goals. We’re 1-0 up, we’ve got one more game to go and I’m feeling confident about the second leg, beating them and taking it all the way to Wembley.”

Bonne had failed to score for the O’s since his double against Maidstone United, but he never lost confidence that he could re-discover his scoring form, even without regular partner Josh Koroma.

He said: “I’ve just been telling myself to not overthink it, if it’s going to come it’ll come. The first two chances I had I think I snapped at them a bit early or the first one, the header, was just a bit behind me.

“I’m not blaming boots, but I’ve been wearing Pumas for the last five games and I’ve gone back to Nike for 10 minutes and I’ve scored so I don’t know what that says!”

“I’m always in the right areas. If I wasn’t in the area getting the chances, I’d be putting a big question mark over my head, but I am there and now we’re one step closer to Wembley.”

In Koroma’s absence, Bonne has been partnered by Jay Simpson and, more recently, Matt Harrold, and the forward has expressed his enjoyment at playing with the latter.

“I work with Matt Harrold quite well, he’s the big lumpy one you want to play with up front as a striker so you know when he goes up in the air in the box the ball is going to drop in and around somewhere, either from a flick on or a drop down.

“When I’m playing with Koroma I’m normally the main target they’re hitting long balls to whereas with Matt, that’s been his game all his life, his career – he’s the target man and it takes a bit of pressure off me, it means I can run and move freely and assess the game better when I’m playing with someone like that.

“If I’m the target man, I’m the one who’s getting beaten up by three big defenders all game and it’s nice to have had that for the last four or five weeks and I’ve really enjoyed playing with him.”

The win means Orient are now on a run of six consecutive successes in all competitions, and Bonne believes that this is the best time for the O’s to be on form, especially with a cramped schedule in the final stretch of the season.

He said: “This is probably the best time to have had our last six wins. There are nine league games left, the second leg and there could be the final at Wembley. It’s a good time to start getting a good run through, especially with other teams on our tail.

“I’m really looking forward to the second leg now that I’m back amongst the goals, I wish it could be on Tuesday but it’s another free week for us to go and assess it and see what we could do better because today I think there should have been a few more goals in the game but I think next week I’m going to put that right.”