St Johnstone striker, Benji Kimpioka, has revealed the fuel for his early-season goal blitz – pancakes, lots of them.
A couple of months ago, one of his brothers gave the 24-year-old a high-carb recipe to try.
And, judging by his fitness and form in the first couple of months of the season, the Perth star has found a recipe for football success.
“I do really like my pancakes,” said Kimpioka.
“Because of the carbs, I can run as much as possible.
“I try to switch over to rice sometimes and drink a lot of water. There was one period when it was very often.
“It was breakfast (lunch here so that was something different) then I went home and had pancakes again – healthy ones, with fruit and honey.
“It comes from my brother. He’s big into training and makes these protein pancakes.
“He gave me a good tip and the taste of them is unbelievable. He removes the sugar and adds protein things into it.
“My brother is a very fit guy. He does gym every day, runs 5ks all the time and he influences what I eat.
“He was telling me about these pancakes that he loves. He gave me the recipe, I tried it, I felt really good the next day of training and then in the next game so I stuck with it. It’s simple”
Plenty of goals to choose from
What isn’t so simple, is choosing which of his seven goals so far this season has been his favourite.
“They have all been different,” said Kimpioka. “Obviously, the ones leading to the team winning or involved in us winning have been the most important, but I couldn’t really pick one.
“The last one I scored against Motherwell is maybe the one that shows a different side to me. It was a quick finish, direct.
“I’ve been training on that so to show in the game is obviously a good feeling.
“That just makes me want to practice even more.
“Andy Kirk takes a good part of the finishing after training. The gaffer gives tips too.
“He was obviously a defender but he’s still very experienced, keeps telling me to finish quick sometimes. I also try to learn from my other strike partners.”
Kimpioka is relishing his role as Saints’ chief goal threat.
“I am playing more than I did when I came in at the middle of the season,” said the former Sunderland attacker.
“It was hard to get into that rhythm.
“Coming up in England, being on loan and playing in Sweden was different.
“I want to play as much as possible and keep doing what I’m doing.
“I wouldn’t really think that I’m the main man or something like that, even if that would be the case.
“I am more of a guy that thinks about improving and becoming better day by day and helping the people around me. And taking help from them as well.”
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