Simon Lynch – Dundee FC
When Simon Lynch signed for Dundee I rushed to the stats to see how he got on before joining the Dark Blues. I had a vague recollection of him playing for Celtic back in the day but as with many young players his chances were limited there despite scoring 3 times in 2 starts and a substitute appearance.
Those 3 Celtic goals were the highlight of the stats and you can imagine our feelings when we realised he only managed 4 goals in the next two and a half years before arriving at Dens Park. He was to be our main centre forward and yet didn't have any idea where the goal was. Or so we thought!
After spells at Preston North End, Stockport County and the garishly attired Blackpool (far too close to Dundee United) Simon arrived at Dens in July of 2005.
So here we were, lumbered with a centre forward who couldn't score goals in a team that couldn't create chances. Great news.
We were right about Simon Lynch though. He was lazy looking, didn't link well and looked a fish out of water. On the plus side he scored in each of his first six matches for The Dee !! 6 goals in his first six starts. Outstanding. This forward that everyone had written off now had everyone reaching for the record books.
His style however still did not endear him to the hyper critical Dark Blue followers. Forgetting many of the heroes of old who played exactly the same way he was described regularly as a waste of space that could only score goals!! What a bad thing it is for a centre forward to be able to only score goals!!
Since then Simon has gone on to score 18 goals in 32 starts in a poor side that is languishing in the bottom half of the Scottish 1st Division. His 3 Scottish Cup goals helped see Dundee in the semi-finals on the 1st April and with any luck he'll stroll through the match looking uninterested and score another couple. I'd take that any day of the week.
Simon has definitely turned the tables on the doubters with tap ins, headers and the odd goal from outside the box. What he lacks in pace he more than makes up for in awareness and has a canny knack of being in the right place at the right time and being able to hit the target.
His workrate has visibly improved and if he keeps on scoring the chances are he'll not be with us much longer. With any luck Stockport fans will be able to watch him for themselves in the Scottish Cup Final on May 13th.