Been there, done that & gave away the shirt
Dykes donates Scotland debut tops to Queens and Livingston
HE MIGHT have rejected the land of his birth to play for Scotland but Lyndon Dykes will never forget where he came from.
Or who made him what he is today. Even before he had pulled on the dark blue, the Australia-born striker made it clear he is a proud Scot.
He then backed up his words with actions by making an instant impression on his debut against Israel last month before adding to his growing reputation by scoring in the win in the Czech Republic.
The QPR striker could have framed those two shirts and stuck them on the wall of his house in the south east of England. But he didn’t.
Instead, he believed there were more worthy recipients of mementos from those special nights – the two clubs that set him on his way to stardom.
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Dykes said: “I gave one to Queen of the South and the other to Livingston.
“I thought it was important to give both teams something back in recognition for helping me get to where I am today as a Scotland international.
“Queens gave me my chance in Scottish football and Livi gave me the chance in the Premiership.
“I know without those opportunities I wouldn’t be standing here today as a Scott ish international playing for Queens Park Rangers in the Championship.”
So, two goals have already been ticked by Dykes. Debut? Check. First goal? Check. But there is one outstanding target still to be realised and it’s one that has eluded every Scottish player for a painful 22 years.
Dykes, gearing up for the
Euro play-off clash with Israel on Thursday, said: “I want to get Scotland back to major tournaments and I ’m desperate to play my part.
“That’s where Scotland should be in my mind, especially with the players we have in our squad.
“It could potentially be an exciting period for the country.
“My aim is just to win this game for the fans, the coaching staff, the team and the country.
“It would be great to score and I would love to do that but the main thing is Scotland win the match and hopefully we can make the play-off final.”
On his debut Dykes sized up Israel in the Hampden draw and is confident the Scots will now go one better.
He added “Hopefully this time we can beat them.
“Everyone knows what Israel is like as a team but if we just concentrate on ourselves we’ll be fine. We go into it full of confidence and looking to build on the results of the last two games.”