St Johnstone’s Scottish Cup hero, Adama Sidibeh, has admitted that a burden has been lifted after his weekend winner.
And the Gambian international is now hoping that the age-old theory about strikers and goal streaks after a drought has been ended holds true.
Saints are into the Scottish Cup quarter-finals and the 26-year-old’s goal celebration spoke of the relief and joy putting a full-stop to a six-month wait brings.
“I am very happy with the goal and I’m very happy to have helped the team get the win,” said Sidibeh.
“When I saw Graham take his shot, I thought I could just flick it and put it into the net.
“I meant to hit it – I saw the keeper move so I headed it and then it went in.
“It has been a long time. As a striker, when you don’t score you get frustrated in yourself, but I kept moving and always believed it would come.
“It has taken time but scoring meant a lot to me and I think I’ll start scoring more goals now.
“There is a weight on your shoulders as a striker when you are not scoring.
“You feel like nothing is going your way but you have to keep your head high.
“I always believed there would be a day I would score again.”
Hard work pays off
Simo Valakari has never lost faith in his centre-forward’s ability – despite the fact Sidibeh had never scored while the Finn was in charge at McDiarmid Park.
And the player who was plucked out of the English non-leagues by Craig Levein, has been diligent with his work to smooth the rough edges in his game.
“After matches you look at your weaknesses and look at games back,” said Sidibeh. “That helps a lot.
“I always look back at my touches, my speed and everything I have to improve on.
“Coming on in a game like the Hamilton one and getting the goal to win it helps the confidence a lot.
“Sometimes you feel like you want to do everything the fast way, but you need to show the composure.
“I have been trying to improve that on the training ground – we have worked so hard on keeping composure.
“This goal means a lot to me and hopefully now I can kick on from here.
“Last season I finished it scoring a lot, so this goal is a start and I think it will help me a lot in the games we have coming up.
“As a player, when you’re on the bench it doesn’t mean that you’re out of it.
“It’s the manager’s decision and I’m happy to play every time he needs me to.
“The season has been difficult but I feel stronger for it now, I will be giving my best and see what happens.
“The manager has given the group confidence, which is important for the boys.
“You can see it on everyone’s face now that we have confidence.”
Transfer talk
There was no transfer speculation surrounding Sidibeh last month, but it was a different story in the summer when he was the most talked about player at McDiarmid.
He reflected: “Did the speculation affect me? To be honest, I wasn’t looking at it that much and I was concentrating on my performances.
“But when I picked up the red card against Dundee United and missed the three or four games it slowed me right down.
“But now I’m ready to keep moving.
“I am looking forward to the next game now – I have good memories of playing at Kilmarnock.
“I scored two goals there earlier in the season so hopefully I can do the same.”
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