Lyall Cameron is determined to grasp his first-team chance at Dundee after “a lot of bad days” in his young career.
The confidently-spoken 19-year-old has shown his quality on the pitch this season for the Dark Blues, scoring three times in their League Cup campaign already.
The third came in a Man of the Match performance against in-form League One outfit Falkirk on Tuesday night.
Championship minutes have been harder to come by after impressive displays in the Premier Sports Cup group stage.
Three substitute appearances of one minute, one minute and 20 minutes have meant Cameron has had to be patient.
‘She’ll love the shout-out’
The Dundee academy product, though, wants to be out on that pitch and he’s eager to show manager Gary Bowyer – and his own family – more performances like Tuesday night.
“I feel like I’ve had to be patient for years! I’ve just had to keep going and sticking at it,” Cameron said.
“I’ve had a couple of loans which haven’t been easy, I’ve had a lot of bad times and bad days so I’m just happy for this.
The Dee are heading to the Quarter-Finals!
Lyall Cameron with his 3⃣rd Premier Sports Cup goal of the season!#PremierSportsCup | @DundeeFC pic.twitter.com/Eps9LMPz5l
— SPFL (@spfl) August 31, 2022
“I have been through a lot so I just want to build on Falkirk and play better next week.
“So days like Tuesday definitely make it more sweet – my family were there and it’s my gran Ella’s birthday this week, so I was delighted to get a goal for her. She’ll love the shout-out, too!
“That just makes it a brilliant week and the fans enjoyed it as well.”
‘I wasn’t given chances’
After enjoying a first loan spell with Peterhead, Cameron’s second stint at Balmoor didn’t go the way he wanted it to.
The season-long loan ended early and the young attacker would join Montrose for the remainder of last season.
“Up at Peterhead on the bench, not getting on was a bad time,” Cameron said.
“Driving up the road for two hours to sit and watch football when I feel like I should have been playing.
“I learned a lot from that, seeing both sides of football. It’s not easy.
“Everyone looks at being a footballer as the best thing ever, it is at times, but it can be difficult when you are a young boy as well.
“It’s hard but you just to keep going.
“I don’t want to bad mouth anyone but my face just didn’t fit and I wasn’t given chances.
“I’m happy the new manager here has given me chances, hopefully I can make him proud and the team proud.”
‘Pleasant surprise’
He added: “Tuesday’s start came as a pleasant surprise so I was very happy about that then to get the win and a goal to add to it I was delighted.
“I want to keep playing, keep scoring goals. That’s what I want to be – a midfielder who creates chances and scores goals.
“I’ve done that so far this season so hopefully I can keep building that and add more.”
‘I wanted the pen’
And the 19-year-old admits he was desperate to add another on the night against Falkirk after Gary Oliver’s late handball on the line gifted Dundee a penalty.
Cameron grasped the ball and looked set to take the spot-kick only to then yield to captain’s orders to allow Zach Robinson to step up.
The frontman duly fired the ball home for his second goal of the season and took time from his celebration to thank his team-mate.
Cameron added: “I wanted the pen, I’ll be honest.
“I want to score as many goals as I can.
“I asked the captain Ryan Sweeney if I could take it and he said yes.
“Zach hadn’t scored, though. I would have loved to have taken it and I didn’t happily give it away but I’m glad he got his goal.
“Because it was a bit of a different team on Tuesday we didn’t have a set penalty taker.
“So I thought ‘I’m taking this’ and I think I would have scored it.
“I wouldn’t have fancied fighting Z in the changing-room after, though – especially if Sweeney was on his side too!”
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