Tom Pope has retracted his claim he would score 40 goals a season playing against Manchester City defender John Stones following his goal at the Etihad - by upping the tally to 50 goals.
Pope's summer tweet criticising Stones had dominated the pre-match discussion of City's FA Cup third round tie against Port Vale, after he claimed he would score 40 goals a season against the 'weak' England defender.
He had tweeted: “Just watched the highlights of the England game! I know I’m a league 2 player, I know he plays for England, I know he’s on £150k a week, I know he’s a million times better player than me but I’d love to play against John Stones every week! I’d get 40 a season!”
He toned down the claim in the build up to Saturday's tie, saying he would position himself against a defender like Stones in order to take advantage of his target man attributes.
But Pope instead gravitated towards youngster Taylor Harwood-Bellis during the game, getting the better of the 17-year-old to equalise and send 8,000 travelling Vale fans into delirium. City ran out 4-1 winners.
On a rare occasion that Stones and Pope came together during the game, it was the City man who shoulder-barged the striker off the pitch to win a throw-in.
The veteran striker, known for his outspoken tweets in the lower leagues, took to Twitter after the game and referenced his summer claim about Stones, clearly still on a high following his shock goal at the Etihad.
"Sorry I can’t reply to everyone it’s gone mental," he posted, very much tongue in cheek.
"I’d just like to say I was completely wrong and bang out of order to say I’d score 40 a season..... it’s more like 50, enjoy your weekend," followed by smiling and thumbs up emojis.
