Emmanuel Adebayor volleyed a brilliant clinching goal in the 2-0 victory over Bolton then opened his heart about surviving the terrorist outrage on Togo's team coach in Angola.
The striker has scored in all his three games since returning to City after three people died in the ambush at the African Nations Cup last month but is still haunted by his ordeal.
Suspended in September after a controversial win over his old team Arsenal, Manu said: "It took a while to get that out of my head, but after Angola I'm just happy to be on a football pitch.
"When it happened on January 8, a Friday, around 2pm, I told myself that I might never be on a football pitch again, that I might never score goals any more. But God took a hand.
"Some people passed away, and you have to be playing for them now - every time you put the shirt on, you have to be scoring for them. You have to enjoy it.
"I could have been buried somewhere. I love scoring goals but whenever I do now, I say 'yes, you are scoring goals - you could be in a coffin now, you could be in Paradise, I don't know.' It's very hard."
Adey took time off to be with his family but has returned in fine form to boost City's strike power in the chase for fourth place, held by Liverpool who have played a game more.
Celebrating his ninth goal in 16 League games this season, he added: "The most important thing is to keep trying to win games. I think we are doing it well, we have a lot of good players.
"After what happened at Hull it was very important for us to win tonight, so I'm very happy.
"At home we are playing quite well. But we have to focus on our game away from home and work on that. If we do, we can be dangerous for any team in this league."
Manu is impressed too by his first weeks of working with new boss Roberto Mancini. He said: "He's Italian - they like working on tactics. I'm very pleased, he's doing the job well. He's told me to always be in front of the posts, and I'll keep doing my job."
mcfc.co.uk
Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2010 12:41 pm