Callum Hendry has described the towering header which ended his Premiership goal drought as his finest moment on a football pitch.
The 23-year-old, who joined Aberdeen on loan from St Johnstone at the tail end of the winter transfer window, endured a maddening dry spell in front of goal for the Saints prior to making the move north.
Although he rippled the net in the Betfred Cup against Motherwell as recently as November, his barren spell in the top-flight extended to 11 months – albeit the curtailement of last term due to the pandemic skews that metric.
So, there was a feeling of catharsis when he thundered home the only goal of the game in the Dons’ 1-0 victory over Kilmarnock in February, breaking his duck on his fourth outing for the Pittodrie men.
🔴 @Callum_Hendry's first Dons goal sealed victory at Pittodrie on Saturday#SPFL | @AberdeenFC
— SPFL (@spfl) February 22, 2021
It was a moment that even topped his memorable strike in St Johnstone’s 2-2 draw with Rangers last term.
Asked for his career highlight during an interview with Red TV, Hendry said: ‘With my dad playing for Rangers when I was growing up, to score against them last year was good.
‘But, honestly, that feeling of scoring aginst Kilmarnock for Aberdeen – that header – was up there. It had been such a long time for me scoring a league goal before that.
‘I came to Aberdeen to prove a point and to score with my first touch of the game was a good feeling.
‘There was a sense of relief and it wasn’t like it was a scrappy goal, either. I was proud of my header, so that was probably my favourite moment on a football pitch.’
In an extended interview with the former Blackburn Rovers kid, he described teammate Matty Kennedy – another ex-Saints favourite – as a ‘class clown’ and revealed that he was forced to belt out ‘Let Me Love You’ by Mario as an Aberdeen induction.
Hendry also recalled how his career could have veere in a very different direction as a teenager.
He added: ‘I was a centre-half until I was 15 and then I did my ACL [anterior cruciate ligament] for the first time.
‘When I was coming back from that I naturally drifted into more of an attacking position and naturally started playing as a striker.
‘Ever since then, I’ve played up front. It’s much better, isn’t it? There’s no better than scoring goals. You work your whole childhood – your whole life – to get to this point and evry time you find the net, it’s euphoric.’
