Birmingham City sent "supersub" Lyndon Dykes warning despite "clutch" Swansea City winner | OneFootball

Lyndon Dykes has come off the bench twice to earn Birmingham a win, but FLW's fan pundit warns that shouldn't be enough to keep him at St Andrew's.

Lyndon Dykes came off the bench to score and hand Birmingham City a win against Swansea City on Saturday, but Football League World's Blues fan pundit doesn't believe that this should be enough to keep him at the club.

They'd been playing for 94 minutes at St Andrew's with the score still goalless when Lyndon Dykes popped up with a goal to hand Birmingham City a 1-0 win in their Championship match against Swansea City.

This wasn't the first time this season that he's done something like this already this season, either.

Against Blackburn Rovers last month, Dykes came off the bench to score away to Blackburn in the 98th minute, sealing a 2-1 away win.

All of this means that Dykes is already earning himself a reputation as a "supersub" for the Blues. But whether the player will want this reputation when the Scotland international would rather be playing more regular football, especially when a summer move to Hibernian fell through at the last, is somewhat debatable.

"He's come up clutch for us" - Lyndon Dykes praised for Swansea City winner

Football League World have spoken to our resident Birmingham City fan pundit Jason Moore, and he's glad of Dykes' contribution towards the club's promotion push.

"To be fair, the fact the deal fell through and he's won the game for us, if that's the only thing he does it's a blessing in disguise because he's got us three points, because it looked like it was going to be a stalemate," Moore began.

"Coming towards the end it just didn't look like we were going to score, so he's come up clutch for us and he's scored."

But Jason believes that Dykes' international ambitions alone will likely mean that 'supersub' isn't a moniker that the player himself will want to embrace.

"I don't think he'll want to be a supersub and I don't think he's going to look at himself that way because he's going to want to play for Scotland still, and I think granted their options aren't amazing, but surely if he's only playing as a supersub constantly you're going to lose your spot, so he's going to want to play regular football like all pros do."

And Jason recognises that Dykes is a good option to have on the bench because it allows manager Chris Davis something different if the Blues are struggling to get over the line in a match.

"At this point, I'm happy for him to stay and be a supersub until we get some more quality in.

"I'm glad we've still got him currently because he got us the three points, but I don't think the supersub is going to be something that he wants.

"I'm happy for him to be a supersub because a big man offers something different at the end of a game when you're desperate when you're trying to get some points."

But Jason is also a realist, and he doesn't believe that these late goals means that Dykes has a long-term future at St Andrew's.

"I'm happy for him to be a supersub. Currently, I'm glad he's still here. I don't want to see him starting for us and I don't think he will.

"But yeah, I'm happy that he can be a supersub and get us some points, but I still think in January he'll probably go."

Dykes will need first-team football if he wants to star in next summer's World Cup

LDykes had been expected to head back to Scotland on loan this summer, but the deal fell through at the last minute and the striker will now remain a Birmingham player until the January transfer window at the earliest.

Speaking to Sky Sports following Scotland's recent match against Denmark, Dykes said: "There was talk there, looking to go on loan. Hibs tried to do their best, but it didn't end up happening."

His dramatic late goal against Swansea on Saturday wasn't the first time this season that Dykes had managed a late goal to win a match for Birmingham.

Away to Blackburn Rovers in August, Blues trailed for 40 minutes after Todd Cantwell gave Blackburn the lead early in the second half, only for Jay Stansfield to equalise from the penalty spot as the match ticked over into stoppage-time, with Dykes popping up in the 98th minute to bag the winner.

The Swansea match saw him repeat this trick, but this may not offer Dykes a way into the Birmingham starting XI, and regular game time will likely be on the player's mind this season.

With two games of their World Cup qualifiers played, Scotland are well-placed, in second place behind Denmark on goal difference with four points.

And with the top team from each group qualifying automatically and the runners-up going into the play-offs, Scotland have an excellent chance of making it to next summer's finals.

But it is fair to point out that Dykes needs regular first team football in order to keep that dream alive, and while Jay Stansfield injured himself earlier in the season, that injury has turned out not to be as severe as had been first feared and Stansfield has already returned to the Blues team.

This limits Dykes' opportunities to play, and it may well be that the January transfer window will give the player an excellent opportunity to get that game-time in ahead of next summer's football festival in the USA.