Danny Haynes claims victory over Plymouth Argyle has worked wonders for Bristol City's confidence.

Not only did the Robins win for the first time in three games on Tuesday night to remain within a point of the Championship play-off positions, Bristol City also rediscovered their goalscoring touch, netting three times in six minutes to see off the Pilgrims.

City's 3-1 success represented their biggest win in the Championship since they beat Watford 4-2 at Vicarage Road on Boxing Day last year.

And striker Haynes, who opened the scoring at Ashton Gate, believes the feel-good factor generated by such a victory will help bring out the best in City in the coming weeks and months.

"There is a feeling that things are finally starting to come together for us," said Haynes, who was promoted to manager Gary Johnson's starting line-up for the first time since the end of August after recovering from illness.

"We knew we needed to score more goals and the fact we were struggling to go beyond one per game was playing on our minds," admitted the former Ipswich Town star.

"It was costing us points and we were drawing games we should have been winning. But this result changes everything.

"Three different players have got on the scoresheet, we've scored more than in any other game this season and confidence will be high after a win like that.

"We're in a good position in the table and the lads are now flying. It makes all the difference when you feel confident about what you are doing."

Haynes' renewed optimism is founded upon three key factors. Cole Skuse became the first City midfielder this season to contribute a goal in open play during Saturday's 1-1 draw with Peterborough, Jamie McCombe became the first to net from a set-piece against Plymouth and Haynes registered a rare goal from close-range.

He said: "We've been relying on Nicky Maynard for most of our goals and he's scored a lot from long range. It's about time we started putting away the tap-ins.

"That shows we're getting behind defences, getting runners in and putting good crosses into the box.

"We have lads who are tall, strong and good in the air, yet we hadn't scored from a set-piece all season. That changed when McCombe headed in the other night and, hopefully, we can now go on to score more from free kicks and corners.

"And the midfielders seem to be getting in more shots and efforts on goal and Skuse netted a briiliant goal on Saturday.

"It feels as though things are now coming together for us and we're all looking forward to the next game. This is a tough league and it's usually very close at the top. We're in a good position, but the best is still to come."

On a personal note, he added: "It was good to get back into the side after my illness and I was happy to score. That's my second goal of the season and, hopefully, there will be many more to come.

"We need to help Nicky out and it's important others chip in with goals. We've had four different goal-scorers in the last two games, so that is beginning to happen for us."