Alfie aims for confidence boost after winner
GOAL hero Alfredo Agyeman is hopeful that his super-sub role will provide the spark for renewed self-belief.
The 22-year-old leaped off the bench with less than 10 minutes left against Airdrieonians on Saturday and repaid the faith in him shown by manager John Potter by netting the decisive strike in Kelty Hearts’ favour.
It was the Ghana-born star’s first league goal of the campaign – his other effort came in the Premier Sports Cup against Cove Rangers – and handed the New Central Park outfit a second successive home victory.
Agyeman, who said that he ignored the call from team-mate Nicky Low to pass the ball before he rounded Diamonds keeper Alex Henderson to net, commented: “I was looking forward to coming on and making something happen.
“It’s my first league goal of the season. It’s good; it will give me that confidence to kick-on and use it to try and score more goals and help the team win games. I’m happy with that. I started well in the pre-season games and then missed chances in the first couple of games of the season which drained my confidence a little bit. A game like this will help my confidence massively.”
Agyeman has played in all of Kelty’s 14 competitive games so far this term, starting eight of them, although Saturday was his first League One start since a defeat at Clyde in August.
“Football’s always like that; you’re going to get left out sometimes,” he said of the competition within the squad.
“It’s good to have that competition, work hard and try and get in the team, and in training as well.
“I was really looking forward to coming on in the game, trying to help the team do something, and make something happen.”
Agyeman, who switched to Kelty last summer, moved to Italy with his family at the age of three and had trials with the likes of Internazionale and Virtus Entella, currently playing in Serie C.
Challenges faced by his family saw them leave the country for Scotland, where he signed for Motherwell in 2016, and he went on to turn out for East Kilbride and Queen’s Park before moving to BSC Glasgow, and then Kelty.
“I was three-years old when I moved (to Italy) from Ghana. I had so many opportunities for top teams,” Agyeman said.
“It was amazing. I had so many opportunities for things like that but it was hard for my family so we decided to come here instead.”
His current manager, John Potter, is delighted to have Agyeman at his disposal and praised his match-winning contribution at the weekend.
“Alfie was our best player preseason. He started the season being maybe a little bit inconsistent, he’ probably been a little bit unfortunate, but he’s a threat with what he’s got,” he said.
“It’s great for him to come on and get the goal. Hopefully, it does his confidence good, and we kick on from here.”
Potter, who hopes Kallum Higginbotham will return soon after a “niggle” picked up ahead of the Airdrie match, said he allowed Ross Philp to join Stenhousemuir on loan until January to give him the opportunity of playing regular football.
Following Saturday’s win, Kelty go to FC Edinburgh this weekend, before welcoming Queen of the South on Tuesday, and he added: “We’re keeping clean sheets, which helps, and I think we’ll always be a threat. I’d still like to score more goals but, hopefully, we’ll get there with the players we’ve got back, and the opportunities we’re making.
“Airdrie will be up there amongst Falkirk and Dunfermline at the top of the league. They’re a full-time team, they’ve got good players, and I don’t think there will be many teams that will take points off them this year.”