Kwame Thomas has praised Gary Bowyer’s man-management skills after the Dundee boss inspired him with a pep talk.
Thomas held crunch talks with Bowyer last week after finding it hard to break his way into the Dundee side ahead of Zach Robinson and Alex Jakubiak.
And, after receiving assurances that he still had a key part to play, Thomas stepped off the bench to net a double in the 3-3 draw with Morton on Saturday.
“I have good dialogue with the gaffer,” said Thomas.
“He is one of the best I have had in terms of man-management.
“Like any player, I am not happy when I am not playing.
“But he explained that Zach and Jak have been in great form and to be ready when it was my turn.
“I said to him I would be ready and it proved that way.
“It is a team game and I want us to be successful together.
“I obviously want to help with that so when I came on I could see it was against a physical team.
“That’s where my attributes help the team.”
Kwame Thomas lifted by ‘energy from Dundee crowd’
Thomas scored four minutes after replacing Jakubiak.
He raced behind the goal, urging Dark Blues fans in the Bobby Cox Stand to get behind their side for the final 20 minutes.
He then sealed the draw with a last minute leveller, only for the stadium announcer to wrongly award the strike to team-mate Ryan Sweeney.
But with his parents Paul and Joy making the trip north from Nottingham to watch, nothing could spoil Kwame’s celebrations.
“In football the energy of the crowd can sometimes dictate a game,” added Thomas.
“My celebration wasn’t something I planned. It was just a reaction.
“I thought: ‘Let’s get the stadium going.’ That made it difficult for Morton and we got the point in the end.”
Thomas was too focused on the game to even notice his second strike being mistakenly awarded to Sweeney.
He added: “I didn’t hear that! I wasn’t really listening or thinking about what was going on, to be honest.
“It wasn’t until I spoke to my dad that he said they gave it to Sweens at first.
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“I don’t think Sweens was anywhere near me so it was definitely my goal.
“This was the first time my mum and dad have come to see me in Scotland.
“They came up on the train from Nottingham on Friday and the club helped get them into a hotel.
“After that, I will have to beg them to come more!”
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