Lyndon Dykes

Lyndon John Dykes (born 7 October 1995) is an association footballer who plays as a striker for Championship club Queens Park Rangers. Dykes previously played for Merrimac, Redlands United and Surfers Paradise Apollo in Australia, and for Queen of the South and Livingston in Scotland.

Lyndon Dykes
Personal information
Full name Lyndon John Dykes[1]
Date of birth (1995-10-07) 7 October 1995
Place of birth Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
Height 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Position(s) Striker
Club information
Current team
 Queens Park Rangers
Number 9
Youth career
Mudgeeraba
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2013 Mudgeeraba 5 (0)
2014 Merrimac 16 (25)
2014–2015 Queen of the South 0 (0)
2015 Redlands United 15 (15)
2015 Gold Coast City 1 (1)
2016 Surfers Paradise Apollo 15 (17)
2016–2019 Queen of the South 86 (10)
2019–2020 Livingston 28 (11)
2019 → Queen of the South (loan) 14 (1)
2020– Queens Park Rangers 22 (5)
National team‡
2020– Scotland 7 (2)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 23 January 2021 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 19:02, 18 November 2020 (UTC)

Born and raised in Australia, Dykes chose to represent Scotland in international football, making his competitive debut in September 2020.

Personal life

Dykes was born in Gold Coast in Queensland. Dykes said of his background, "My parents are Scottish. They are from Dumfries. My dad is from just outside Dumfries, a small town called Moniaive".[2] His elder sister Hollie was a gold medal-winning gymnast for Australia at the 2006 Commonwealth Games.[3] Dykes' son was born in Scotland.[4]

Club career

Early career

Dykes spent part of his younger years living and playing rugby league in Canberra. His return to the Gold Coast was the spark for him taking up association football, as he played youth football for Mudgeeraba SC before joining Merrimac FC. He then played in the 2015 National Premier Leagues Queensland with Redlands United and joined Gold Coast City FC the year after but soon departed to play that season for Surfers Paradise Apollo SC for one month.[5]

Queen of the South

Dykes toured England with the Australian schoolboys, after which he visited relatives in Dumfries, the home town of his parents. He then returned to Dumfries to play for the Queen of the South Under-20s team.[5] He scored 22 goals in 14 competitive matches at this level before returning to Australia in January 2015.[6]

On 7 June 2016, Dykes returned to Scotland and signed for Queen of the South, who had Gavin Skelton as their manager at that time.[6] Dykes' senior competitive debut was representing Queen's when aged 20 in a 2–0 Scottish League Cup win versus Queen's Park at the Excelsior Stadium on 16 July 2016. His first senior goal was on 9 August 2016 in the Queen's 3–1 League Cup win over Hibernian.[5]

On 7 December 2017, Dykes signed an extension to his contract that kept him at the club until 31 May 2019.[7] In three years in Dumfries, he played in 86 league matches, scoring 10 league goals and in 31 cup matches scoring nine cup goals for the Doonhamers. His best position for the Doonhamers was as a foil for Queens main striker Stephen Dobbie, especially when Dobbie scored 43 goals in the 2018-19 season, although he was also played on the wings. [5]

Livingston

On 30 January 2019, Dykes secured a two-year contract to join Livingston, but the Doonhamers reached an agreement with the West Lothian club for him to return to Palmerston Park on loan until the end of the 2018-19 season.[8][9]

Dykes was utilised as a central striker at the Lions. He scored on his senior competitive debut for the Lions in a 1–1 League Cup draw at Falkirk on 13 July 2019. On 12 September 2019, he extended his contract with the Lions for an additional season until May 2022. On 6 October 2019, he scored the second goal in the 2–0 home league win versus Celtic. On 21 December 2019, he scored a hat-trick in a 4–0 win versus Ross County, the first time a Livingston player had done so in the top flight.[10]

Queens Park Rangers

On 19 August 2020, Dykes signed a four year deal for English club Queens Park Rangers for a reported fee of £2,000,000.[11][12] Queen of the South are due a six-figure fee as part of the deal, as a sell-on clause was included when Dykes was sold to Livingston, with the figure likely to surpass the club's £250,000 record fee received when Andy Thomson moved to Southend United in 1994.[13] On 12 September 2020, Dykes scored on his competitive debut for the club, scoring a penalty in the 54th minute, in a 2-0 win versus Nottingham Forest.[14]

International career

Dykes played for Australia schoolboys prior to joining Queen of the South.[5] He was eligible either for Australia or Scotland.[4]

On 25 August 2020, Dykes was named in the Scotland squad for the first-time for UEFA Nations League matches versus Israel and the Czech Republic.[15][16] Dykes had his international debut in a 1–1 draw with Israel on 4 September 2020 and then scored his first goal for Scotland a few days later in a 2–1 victory versus Czech Republic.[17][18]

Career statistics

Club
As of 23 January 2021 (UTC)[19]
Club Season League National Cup League Cup Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Queen of the South 2016–17[20] Scottish Championship 30210613[lower-alpha 1]1404
2017–18[21] 34730403[lower-alpha 1]1448
2018–19[22] 36241537[lower-alpha 1][lower-alpha 2]45210
Total 100118115413613622
Livingston 2019–20[23] Scottish Premiership 2592162003312
2020–21[24] 3200000032
Total 28112162003614
Queens Park Rangers 2020–21[24] Championship 225100000235
Career Total 1492711221613619441
  1. Appearances in the Scottish Challenge Cup
  2. Appearance in the Premiership play-offs

International appearances
As of 18 November 2020[25]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
Scotland 202072
Total72
Scores and results list Scotland's goal tally first.
No.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
17 September 2020Andrův stadion, Olomouc, Czech Republic Czech Republic1–12–12020–21 UEFA Nations League B
211 October 2020Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland Slovakia1–01–0

See also

References
  1. "Notification of shirt numbers: Queens Park Rangers" (PDF). English Football League. p. 57. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
  2. "Livingston's Australia-born striker Lyndon Dykes prepared to pledge his allegiance to Scotland" https://www.thenational.scot/ 8 October 2019
  3. Lyndon Dykes: Livingston striker still silent on Scotland or Australia, BBC Sport, 25 July 2020
  4. Lyndon Dykes says he is ready to commit to Scotland as tells Steve Clarke to come and get him, The National, 25 November 2019
  5. "QosFC: Squad - Season 20/21". www.qosfc.com.
  6. "Lyndon Dykes Signs On". Queen of the south F.C. 7 June 2016.
  7. "Contract Extension For Lyndon". Queen of the South F.C. 7 December 2017.
  8. "Lyndon Dykes". Queen of the South F.C. 30 January 2019.
  9. Carson, Callum (30 January 2019). "Lyndon Dykes says signing for Livingston was a 'no-brainer' after striker pens deal with Premiership club". West Lothian Courier. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  10. Idessane, Kheredine (21 December 2019). "Livingston 4–0 Ross County". BBC Sport. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
  11. "Lyndon Dykes is a Ranger". QPR.
  12. "Lyndon Dykes: Queens Park Rangers sign Livingston striker". BBC Sport. 19 August 2020.
  13. "QosFC: Lyndon Dykes". www.qosfc.com.
  14. "QPR 2-0 Nottingham Forest". BBC. 12 September 2020. Retrieved 12 September 2020.
  15. Lewis, Jane (25 August 2020). "Scotland: Steve Clarke selects Lyndon Dykes in Nations League squad". BBC Sport. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
  16. "QosFC: Scotland Squad". www.qosfc.com.
  17. "Scotland vs. Israel - 4 September 2020 - Soccerway". uk.soccerway.com.
  18. "Scotland 1-1 Israel: Disappointment for Scots as Lyndon Dykes makes solid debut". EDinburgh News. 4 September 2020. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  19. "Lyndon Dykes". soccerbase.com.
  20. "Games played by Lyndon Dykes in 2016/2017". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
  21. "Games played by Lyndon Dykes in 2017/2018". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
  22. "Games played by Lyndon Dykes in 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
  23. "Games played by Lyndon Dykes in 2019/2020". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
  24. "Games played by Lyndon Dykes in 2020/2021". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
  25. Lyndon Dykes at the Scottish Football Association
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