Dykes aims to finish season on high with Charlton and Scotland
Lyndon Dykes believes he has achieved his goal of enhancing his World Cup chances and improving Charlton Athletic as a team after signing from Championship rivals Birmingham City in January. The London side might have only moved up one place - to 18th - since the Scotland striker arrived, but they have won five of their 14 games since, compared to two of the previous 14. "Really enjoying my time there," the 30-year-old, who has scored twice in 13 games for his new club, said.
"The main aim was getting game time and minutes, feeling good and making Charlton a better team hopefully and I think I've done that so far. "We've got to finish the season strong, I am there until the summer and then we'll see what happens. " Dykes earned his 49th cap by starting Saturday's 1-0 defeat by Japan but is not taking his seat on the plane to the Americas for granted.
"You have to make sure you finish strong and finish fit and hopefully performing as well," he said. Dykes recognises "there are things we can do a little bit better" when the Scots face Ivory Coast in Liverpool on Tuesday. "We conceded a sloppy goal, but these are games that we can learn from going into the World Cup," he added.
"We don't want to be losing games, but the manager is trying new things out, he's got a bigger squad and I'm sure he'll use a lot of the squad for the next game. "It is another test and another team we haven't played before and it is going to cause us more challenges. "