Chris Wood is hoping there are still plenty of international goals to come after becoming the All Whites’ leading goal-scorer on Tuesday morning with a brace.
With his 30th international goal, Wood surpassed Vaughan Coveny during New Zealand's 4-0 win over Fiji in the Oceania World Cup qualifying tournament.
He could've had a hat-trick when New Zealand earned a late penalty but with the 30-year-old already replaced, Clayton Lewis stepped up and converted it instead.
Regardless, Wood cherished the special result.
"It means a lot. It’s been sought after for a very long time," Wood said of the goal-scoring record.
"I dreamed as a kid trying to get to it, so to break it is fantastic and hopefully I can add a few more goals across the course of my career."
Wood said while the record wasn't something he focused on a lot early on in his career, getting closer to Coveny in recent appearances for New Zealand had made it a more prominent thought.
"To be fair, it’s only in the last few windows that it started to get closer," he said.
"It’s more hopeful that it can be done sooner rather than later, so it’s nice to have it ticked off.
"It’s something that I’ll be able to look back on when I finish my career but there’s still a lot more I want to achieve."
The goal comes 13 years and 62 appearances after making his international debut, although it took 13 games for the Newcastle striker to claim his first goal in the white jersey.
Wood finished off a cross from Jeremy Brockie with a header in 2010 to help New Zealand to a 1-1 draw with Honduras, although the moment was made much more colourful with the then-18-year-old celebrating by pulling down his shorts to reveal special undies with "Woodzee" sprawled across the back.
His celebrations on Tuesday were much more reserved in contrast with a clenching of the fists in delight.
"I’m glad I’m a bit more mature now," he joked.
Wood added that his most memorable goals to date were his brace against Japan in a 4-2 loss in 2014; a curled effort from a tight angle on the byline and a volley off a cross from deep.
"The two against Japan always stick in my mind, even though it was a 4-2 drubbing.
"I kind of like those ones. But to be honest I like all my goals, even if they’re tap-ins."
While he wants to add to his tally over the next few years, Wood said he'd also like to break Ivan Vicelich's record for the most All Whites caps for another career accolade.
Vicelich's 88 games are the most of any All Whites player.
"He’s next on my target list," Wood said.
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