Kyle Dempsey on his first season as a professional
In the first part of a two part interview with midfielder Kyle Dempsey we spoke about what was an amazing season, on a personal level, for a first year professional who stepped up to the mark and went on to score 11 goals in his 47 appearances."I only thought I'd make four or five appearances this season," he admitted. "I made over 40 in the end and scored 11 goals and helped to set up 10. I think that was a massive achievement for me.
"I was playing a few games under Kav, when he was here, then I was missing out on the next one. When the gaffer came in he put all of his trust into me and it's worked out well."
"I think my best role is where I'm just in front of the midfield and behind the strikers in a central attacking role," he said. "I get on the ball a lot there and I can be more creative for the team. When I'm dropped into central midfield I think I sometimes get lost in the game."
On the eleven goals he bagged, he said: "I said to my mam and dad at the start of the season that if I got two or three I'd be happy. I was thinking about how my first one would feel for ages, even before the season kicked off, so it was important for me.
"When I scored my first it was unbelievable, then I played in the next game and scored again. I got another two just after that and I ended up thinking 'when is this going to stop?' I'm really happy that I managed to get 11 and, to be honest, I could probably have had a few more.
"The lads have had a lot of banter with me about being at the top of the goal scoring list. There's been an important message in there as well because they told me to keep my feet on the floor and not let my head get too big."
"I think my favourite goal was the header against Northampton," he commented. "It was 1-0 at the time, and we were on the back foot a bit, so my goal sealed the game. The goal itself was important because it was such a big game for us. We were stuck at the bottom of the table and we needed a lift.
"The lads have had a lot of banter with me about being at the top of the goal scoring list. There's been an important message in there as well because they told me to keep my feet on the floor and not let my head get too big."
"I think my favourite goal was the header against Northampton," he commented. "It was 1-0 at the time, and we were on the back foot a bit, so my goal sealed the game. The goal itself was important because it was such a big game for us. We were stuck at the bottom of the table and we needed a lift.
"That result did that for us and to kill the game off with a goal like that was really special. I've said before it was the first real opportunity I got to show people what my heading was like.
"I score a lot of goals in training like that so as soon as I saw the ball come over I knew it was an opportunity to show everyone. I did shock myself with how high I actually managed to jump, mind you, but it was great to see it fly into the top corner."
Part two of this interview will appear on the official website tomorrow. In part two we talk to Kyle Dempsey about captaining the team, cleaning up at the end of season awards dinner and the learning curve which took him from the youth team to being a first team regular in the blink of an eye.
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