Lyndon Dykes praises Austin MacPhee after scoring Scotland double against Ukraine

Scotland goal hero Lyndon Dykes paid tribute to coach Austin MacPhee after scoring twice in the 3-0 win over Ukraine.

The striker was brought into the action at Hampden with 15 minutes to play in the Nations League match, as Scotland looked to build on John McGinn’s opening goal.

Dykes made the most of his time on the pitch, heading home twice from Ryan Fraser corners to take his international tally to eight goals in 23 caps.

He said that his positioning for both goals was down to coach Austin MacPhee, who has responsibility for how the team look to exploit corners and free kicks, but also said that Scotland boss Steve Clarke had played his hand perfectly after the disappointment of losing to the same opposition in the World Cup play-off just three months ago.

Dykes said: “Credit to Austin, set-play manager, he has been very good since he came in.

“When I was coming on, he told me to go front post. I went front post twice and scored two, so well done to him and the whole staff.

“The manager has probably watched that Ukraine game back 100 times and went back and thought maybe he could change things himself. He has changed things this game and credit to him, it has come off. We are happy for him as well.

“We were very determined (to right the wrongs). Everyone stepped up and wanted to show the fans that we could have done better. Now we are focused on this group and we did that.”

Dykes now has six goals from his last seven Scotland games, even though he is in competition with Che Adams for a starting place and has suffered injury disappointment over the last year. He said he feels full of confidence he can score more and help the team achieve their aims.

When I hit the back of the net, it’s the best feeling, especially scoring in front of all the fans here,” he said. “It’s something you won’t ever forget.

“I feel really at home here, I feel like I play really well under the manager and the boys are great.

“Obviously I had a little bit of a bad spell with injuries in the last few camps which I was disappointed with, because I was on a good run.

“But I’m still on that run and I’m feeling confident every time I come here. I am just going to keep getting in those positions.

“The manager said when I was coming on ‘make sure you impact the game’ and I was happy to do that.

“But I was just happy to get the three points for the team because it was a big three points for the group.”