Mark Warburton has backed “frustrated” Scotland striker Lyndon Dykes ahead of next month’s World Cup qualifiers after a run of 13 games without a goal at QPR.
Loftus Road boss Warburton reckons the 25-year-old striker - who came through the ranks at Queen of the South after emigrating from Australia - is “playing catch-up” due to a lack of an academy grounding.
Dykes hasn’t notched since a 2-1 defeat at Brentford in November and four of his five strikes for the Championship club have come from the penalty spot.
But former Rangers manager Warburton is a huge fan of the powerful frontman who he signed from Livingston for £2million last summer.
Since then Dykes has established himself as Scotland’s number one striker, scoring two goals in seven caps.
And with the World Cup qualifying campaign beginning next month with a home clash against Austria, Warburton insists he is still producing on the park despite his lack of goals.
“I’ve no doubt about his quality," he told West London Sport. "He’s a young player who hasn’t had the benefit of an academy background and is playing catch-up, so to speak.
“There’s no doubt about Lyndon Dykes and how good he’ll become.
“Defenders want clean sheets, midfield players want pass completion and strikers want goals.
“All they want is to score goals - that’s how they judge themselves.
“We as coaches look at their contribution in terms of their hold-up play, unselfish runs, what they do for us at set pieces for and against - they must have far more to their game than goals.
“Of course strikers will always be judged on their goal performance, so he is frustrated.
“But his job is to keep working hard. Our job as coaches is to keep working with players and developing them.”
