Bristol City boss Gary Johnson says he never doubted Nicky Maynard's ability to come good in the Coca-Cola Championship.

Signed from Crewe Alexandra for a club record fee of £2.25 million in the summer of 2008, the Cheshire-born striker initially struggled to adapt to life in English football's second tier.

And a modest return of 11 goals in his first season caused some to question whether he would make the step-up from League One successfully.

But City's manager was always confident Maynard had the tools to cut it as a goal-scorer in the Championship, providing he applied himself in the right way.

"We wouldn't have spent all that money if we'd not been sure," said Johnson.

"Of course, there are always risks involved, but in Nicky's case we felt he had all the attributes needed to make the jump.

"There is a massive gap in quality between League One and the Championship and it was always going to take him a season to settle in and find his feet. Last year was a steep learning curve for Nicky.

"There was a lot he still had to learn when he came here and I think he found this league a bit of a shock to begin with. Defenders are bigger, quicker and stronger and there are no easy games.

"But we could see right from the word go that he had the tools. It was just a matter of getting him to use them properly, so as to give himself the best chance."

Maynard spoke of repaying the faith shown in him by his manager on the eve of the season and, so far, the striker is proving as good as his word.

He opened his account by heading the decisive goal in a Carling Cup first-round tie against Brentford at Griffin Park, since when he has traded only in spectacular strikes from range, winning games against Crystal Palace, Queens Park Rangers and Middlesbrough and salvaging a draw at Coventry last week.

Johnson reflected: "We always knew Nicky had that in his locker. He strikes a ball remarkably well, has that extra yard of pace to get away from defenders and knows where the goal is.

"The problem he had when he first joined us was that he didn't work hard enough.

"He'd sometimes make good runs, but not as often as he could have done, and he didn't always make himself available to receive the ball.

"Instead of posing a threat to defenders for the entire 90 minutes, he would switch off and drift out of games. It was something we had to work on in training and, gradually over a period of time, the penny dropped.

"Now we're seeing Nicky make good runs all the time and he's a constant threat in most games. He now knows how hard you have to work if you want to score goals in the Championship."

Recent history is littered with the names of highly-rated strikers who scored at a prolific rate in League One, only to struggle following elevation to the Championship.

Bristol City's Lee Trundle – currently on loan at Swansea – is an obvious example, while Freddie Eastwood and Billy Sharp have not really made the transition despite finding the back of the net with monotonous regularity in League One for Southend United and Scunthorpe respectively.

Scunthorpe's latest hotshot, Gary Hooper, and former Swindon Town striker Simon Cox, now with West Brom, are the latest highly-regarded forwards to attempt to bridge the leap in class.

"There aren't many who had scored regularly in the lower leagues and then gone on to do it in the Championship," reasons Johnson.

"People talk of a big step-up between the Championship and the Premier League, but it is just as difficult coming from League One to the Championship.

"Nicky is still very young and looks like being one of those who can make the jump.

"Because he has started the season well, his confidence is high and he's prepared to have a go from anywhere.

"Confidence is the key for any striker and he believes he's going to score every time he goes out onto the pitch. It's the same in training and everything he hits seems to be going in.

"It must be a fantastic feeling to be young and scoring goals regularly in the Championship. At the moment, the world really is his oyster."