Rocket even catches Hungbo by surprise
Watford loanee at a loss to try and explain thunderbolt
AS Joseph Hungbo placed the ball for a free-kick 30-odd yards from goal, everyone in the stadium, including Dundee goalkeeper Adam Legzdins, thought he was about to aim the ball towards the pack of players at the edge of the box.
With his side already two goals to the good in their thumping 5-0 win, the Watford loanee surprised everyone, including himself it seems, by arching the ball expertly into the near top corner. “That was my first professional goal,” said a humble Hungbo after the match. “I didn’t really think it would be like that! I just took it on and didn’t really think too much about it, to be honest. Things like that happen. Hopefully it’s the first of many.
“If I’m being honest with you, I actually haven’t practised free-kicks. I have no idea where that came from. I honestly have no idea. Sometimes it’s just your day, and today it was our day.
“The gaffer had a change in personnel in terms of the takers and he said ‘Joe, you’re on it’ and I took that by the scruff and I was like ‘Yeah, okay ... I’ll try and do something’.”
The 21-year-old hailed the impact of Don Cowie, a current County coach and former Watford player, on his progress in Dignwall, and stressed that he isn’t the type to sit back and admire what he’s done. Rather than basking in the praise, he was already turning his attention to Hibs this weekend.
Hungbo took time to settle
after joining the Staggies on a season-long loan in August. In recent weeks he and fellow winger Regan Charles-Cook, who netted a double on the night, have terrorised defences but it hasn’t been enough to secure the side their first three points of the season. Until Wednesday night, that is.
“Over the past couple of weeks the results have been what they’ve been,” continued Hungbo, “but we know we’ve
been playing well, we know we’ve been causing threats. And the manager believes in us, he has faith in us and we put the faith right today.
“We’re just happy to make the gaffer happy, to make the fans happy. They’ve travelled a long way and we gave the fans a performance.”
For Dundee captain Charlie Adam it was a night to forget. At the start of the season they too were not getting the re
sults their performances suggested. A run of poor results and performances followed but things seemed to pick up with four points gained from matches against Aberdeen and Hearts going into Wednesday’s bottom-of-the-table clash with County.
“It’s a huge disappointment,” said Adam, right.
“From how we’ve played the last couple of results to then produce that, it’s simply not good enough. We as a group of players have to take the responsibility.
“I’m in a bit of shock actually. We’ve not competed, we’ve not done the hard yards. And if you don’t do that, it doesn’t matter who
you play, you’ll get beat. “It’s a disappointment from where we were in the last couple of games but we have to stand tall and we have to take it and be ready to go again on Saturday.”
Next up for Adam’s side is a trip to St Mirren, who have lost just one of their last eight. “The manager could have made 11 changes at half-time, we were that bad,” added Adam. “No one can have a gripe if they are not playing on Saturday.”
The manager could have made 11 changes at half-time, we were that bad. No one can have any gripes about not playing