Lyndon Dykes


Lyndon Dykes is an Australian footballer who plays as a striker for Scottish Premiership club Livingston. He played in Australia before debuting in senior football with Queen of the South based in his parents' home town of Dumfries. He played for the Australian schoolboys team and due to his parentage is also eligible to represent Scotland.

Personal life

Dykes was born in Gold Coast in Queensland to parents originally from Dumfries in Scotland. His elder sister Hollie was a gold medal-winning gymnast for Australia at the 2006 Commonwealth Games.
Dykes' son was born in Scotland.

Career

Career in Australia

Dykes spent part of his younger years living and playing rugby league in Canberra. His return to the Gold Coast was the spark for him taking up association football, as he played youth football for Mudgeeraba SC before joining Merrimac FC. He then played in the 2015 National Premier Leagues Queensland with Redlands United and joined Gold Coast City FC the year after but soon departed to play that season for Surfers Paradise Apollo SC for one month.

Queen of the South

Dykes toured England with the Australian schoolboys, after which he visited his relations in Dumfries, the home town of his parents. He then returned to Dumfries to play for the Queen's Under 20s team. He scored 22 goals in 14 competitive matches at this level before returning to Australia in January 2015.
On 7 June 2016, Dykes returned to Scotland and signed for Queen of the South, who had Gavin Skelton as their manager at that time. Dykes' senior competitive debut was representing Queen's when aged 20 in a 2–0 Scottish League Cup win versus Queen's Park at the Excelsior Stadium on 16 July 2016. His first senior goal was on 9 August 2016 in the Queen's 3-1 League Cup win at Hibernian.
On 7 December 2017, Dykes signed an extension to his contract that kept him at the club until 31 May 2019. In three years in Dumfries, he played in 86 league matches, scoring 10 league goals and in 31 cup matches scoring nine cup goals for the Doonhamers. His best position for the Doonhamers was as a foil for Queens main striker Stephen Dobbie, especially when Dobbie scored 43 goals in the 2018-19 season, although he was also played on the wings.

Livingston

On 30 January 2019, Dykes secured a two-year contract to join Livingston, but the Doonhamers reached an agreement with the West Lothian club for him to return to Palmerston Park on loan until the end of the 2018-19 season.
Dykes was utilised as a central striker at the Lions. He scored on his senior competitive debut for the Lions in a 1–1 League Cup draw at Falkirk on 13 July 2019. On 12 September 2019, he extended his contract with the Lions for an additional season until May 2022. On 6 October 2019, he scored the second goal in the 2–0 home league win versus Celtic. On 21 December 2019, he scored a hat-trick in a 4–0 win versus Ross County, the first time a Livingston player had done so in the top flight.

International

Dykes has dual eligibility for Australia and Scotland, although he has still to opt to play for either country. He played for Australia schoolboys prior to joining Queen of the South.