Dykes can shoot for the stars
Former boss Naysmith says Scotland striker would flourish in Premier League
WHETHER on the left wing or left on the bench, Lyndon Dykes was a Palmerston Park periphery figure only five years ago. Now the manager who started shaping a brighter future for the big striker insists he can launch his career to the highest level this spring.
Gary Naysmith believes the Scotland forward (right, in action for Queen of the South in 2018) should take aim at the English Premier League.
Dykes is currently top scorer for promotion-chasing QPR — no mean feat given Mark Warburton’s squad also boasts established top-flight operators in Charlie Austin and Andre Gray.
But Naysmith stressed that Dykes must also use the next few months to alert more established top division clubs to his increasing prowess.
For the former Queen of the South boss is convinced there are more leaps and bounds left in the improving 26-year-old and has urged Dykes, who faces a World Cup qualifying play-off against Ukraine with Steve Clarke’s squad in March, to make the rest of this season count.
‘No way for me is Lyndon at his ceiling, far from it,’ insisted the Edinburgh City manager. ‘Let’s say he gets a realistic target of 15 goals this season in the Championship. Then there will be teams looking at him.
‘There aren’t many 6ft 3in strikers who’ve got his hold-up play, his fitness, his pace — and who can score that number of goals. So he’s got to keep pushing now to try and get into the Premier League.
‘I’m not saying he’ll get there but that’s got to be his aim. QPR are going well.’
The Australian-born prospect looked lost when Naysmith took charge at Palmerston back in December, 2016.
Former Scotland full-back Naysmith recalled: ‘I saw a raw lad with good intentions, always willing to learn but, at left midfield, he wasn’t tracking back.
‘It wasn’t that he was lazy. He just didn’t know what was expected of him all the time.
‘I don’t think anyone knew exactly what he had within him. Even after working with him a while, I didn’t know his level.
‘But we did realise quickly he was wasted out wide. If you couldn’t get the ball to him, you weren’t using
his physical attributes, so we shifted him central as a No10 behind Stephen Dobbie and he never looked back.
‘We’d say to him what he needed to do and he went away, worked and incorporated it into his game.
‘We only played a small part, got him focused about what it takes to be a professional to get him moving in the right direction.
‘You’ve then got to give David Martindale at Livingston credit because he made him into a target man. And since moving down to QPR, Lyndon has taken that part of his game up another notch.’
Dykes, with seven goals for the Loftus Road side this season, equalled Colin Stein’s record of scoring in four consecutive internationals as he helped Scotland to a storming autumn and the Qatar 2022 World Cup play-offs.
Now on 20 caps, the big striker has emerged as a key man in Clarke’s transformation of the national team’s fortunes.
Naysmith added: ‘He’s matured as both a player and a person, I guess. He’s a dad and he’s moved to London, so he’ll have a completely different mentality to what he had a few years ago.
‘Lyndon probably just sat and listened to larger-than-life characters in our dressing room.
‘Maybe he now sees himself as one of Scotland’s top men — and there’s nothing wrong with that.’
There aren’t many 6ft 3in strikers with his fitness, pace and scoring prowess