It’s been a far from normal season – but Peterhead forward Derek Lyle has shown that some things never change.
The Blue Toon striker’s first goal of the campaign in Thursday’s 3-1 win over East Fife means he has scored in Scottish senior football for 22 seasons running.
Down the years Lyle has been a consistent scorer in Scottish football and although the 40-year-old would like to have found the net more this term he still enjoys contributing to the Peterhead cause.
The victory against East Fife was only the former Partick Thistle, Queen of the South, Dundee, Hamilton and Morton player’s third start in 18 appearances this season.
Lyle, who could feature against Forfar at Balmoor this afternoon, said: “I haven’t started many games and I’ve gone on a lot when the gaffer has asked me to do a certain job.
“I got a start on Thursday and I know if I start games and get that game time I’ll get chances and I’ll score goals. The ball was well cut back and I managed to get good contact on it and it went in the net.
“I’m delighted because I’ve scored in every season I’ve been a professional, albeit in most seasons I’ve usually reached double figures, but I still wanted to keep that record up.
“If I thought I couldn’t do it or that I was kidding people on then I wouldn’t do it.
“I do it for the love of the game. I could probably have stopped last year, but I kept going for the love of the game.
“There’s nothing better than a night like Thursday being involved and scoring a goal – you don’t get that feeling anywhere else.
“The boys have been great and it’s great to be part of it.”
42' East Fife – Peterhead 1-1: GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLL FOR PETERHEAD!!! DEREK LYLE WITH A LOVELY FINISH!!! pic.twitter.com/7jDxXSdW2G
— Peterhead FC (@pfcofficial) April 29, 2021
Peterhead complete their season with today’s home game against Forfar and an away clash with Dumbarton on Tuesday.
Victory against East Fife secured the Blue Toon’s League One status for next season as they won three games in succession for the first time since March 2019.
Although Jim McInally’s men are now safe Lyle is determined to finish the campaign on a high in the Buchan side’s final two games.
He added: “Everyone is pleased we’re safe, but I think with the team we’ve got we should have been looking towards the top five.
“We could have made it but some results didn’t go for us, but we’ve hit form since then and now it’s about trying to win the last two and finish on a high.
“In the last few games the boys have been absolutely brilliant so there’s no reason why we can’t win the last two games.
“But you’ve got to apply yourselves properly, if you turn up and expect it to happen then you’ll get beat, but we’ll apply ourselves and hopefully we can get two wins.”
