Striker Kyle Dempsey on his first senior goal
First year professional Kyle Dempsey bagged his first senior goal for the club in the 3-1 Johnstone’s Paint Trophy victory over Accrington Stanley and he admitted that afterwards that seeing the ball hit the back of the net had been a very special moment.
“This is the best feeling I’ve ever had in my life,” he said moments after full time. “I didn’t really know what to do when I scored, if I’m being honest. I ran to the left, to the right ... I just had no clue what to do.
“The lads came over to congratulate me straight away and it was just an amazing feeling.”
“To be fair, as soon as the header came across from Sweens [Antony Sweeney] I thought – wow, what a gift this is,” he told us. “I tapped it, watched it go in the back of the net and I was overjoyed and overwhelmed when I realised what it meant.
“Scoring my first goal was all I wanted after getting my first start earlier in the season. I’ve done it now and it feels absolutely fantastic. We needed this win. Hopefully it will kick start us and get us back on track and we’ll follow it up with three points in the league on Saturday.
“It’s the type of confidence boost we needed. We now need to use it as a stepping stone to make sure we play the same type of football in every game.”
“We were obviously disappointed with the loss of the gaffer but all we could do was put that to one side,” he commented. “We made sure we did that and I think we’ve shown the fans that we can play football.
“It was very hard to handle when he came in and said his good byes and things like that. He’s the manager who gave me a chance in the first place and I’ll always appreciate that. All I can do is kick on and use the things he taught me to help me to progress with my career. I just want to keep proving to everyone that I am capable of playing in the first team.”
On the partnership with Billy Paynter, he said: “I really enjoy playing with him. I’m starting to learn when he’s going to flick it and where he wants me to be. It feels like I’m anticipating things better and I’m having a lot more success because of it.”
And on the lack of celebration for the third goal, he added: “I’m not going to lie, I didn’t think it was a goal at all. Billy seemed to walk back and head it in so I looked across at the linesman to see what he was doing.
“He obviously gave it, but Billy then dropped to the floor as if he was in shock. Unfortunately that was because of his hamstring and hopefully it’s one where he’ll recover quickly.
“Having the goal given is the kind of luck we haven’t been getting this season. We’ve been hitting the post and bar and we’ve had goals ruled out for offside when they haven’t been. We’ve taken our chances in this one and I think we deserved to win the way we did.”
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