The Scotland star has come in for criticism since his summer move.
Cotland striker Lyndon Dykes scored his first goal for Birmingham City in a 7-1 thumping of Fulham under-21s in the EFL trophy yesterday night, in response to harsh criticism of his performance over the weekend.
The former Queens Park Rangers striker completed a £1million move to St Andrew’s in the summer after spending four years at Loftus Road, joining the big spending Blues as they shelled out eye-popping money for several players following their relegation to EFL League One last season.
However, despite Birmingham winning nine of their first 12 games to go clear at the top the English third tier, it hasn’t been plain sailing for the 29-year-old. Dyke’s came in for strong criticism after being restored to the Blues starting line-up for the 1-1 draw against Mansfield Town at the weekend.
The Scottish forward missed a glorious opportunity to put the Midlands side into a two-goal lead at Field Mill, firing wide from close range after a loose ball fell to him just six-yards from goal. The miss meant Dykes is still yet to find the net in his nine league appearances and resulted in some fans questioning his role in the side, with one report saying Dykes had “underwhelmed” since he joined, adding supporters are “yet to be convinced by him” following his summer move from Loftus Road.
He was vigorously defended by Birmingham head coach Chris Davies following the draw at the weekend, who said Dykes had : “contributed really well to the first goal,” before adding: “He’s a threat and a handful, everyone can see that. Like all strikers, they feed off goals, and he wants to score that goal. He has got goals in him, absolutely, and I’m sure they’ll come.”
And the 40-cap international proved his Blues boss right just 72 hours later, when he answered his critics by adding the gloss to a resounding win at St Andrew’s by latching on to Alfons Sampsted’s cross ball and blasting into the back of the net deep into injury time for his first Birmingham City goal.
Replacing record signing Jay Stansfield in the 60th minute, Dykes’ performance was heralded as “pretty effective” by Birmingham Live, while head coach Davies praised the professional performance of his team. “That was a mixture of players haven’t played very much and others that have been playing more,” he said.
“I was really pleased with how we looked. We started the game with the right intent, right attitude and that continued throughout. We looked like we still wanted to be out there for another half an hour at the end of the game. So it’s really pleasing.”
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