Boyle aims to blast Dundee over the line

IT MAY have taken him until February to get off the mark, but striker Martin Boyle is hopeful he has found his scoring touch at the perfect time to fire Dundee to the title.

The 20-year- old forward opened his account for the Dark Blues in their 1-0 win over title rivals Hamilton two months ago but did not add to his tally until the 1-1 draw with Accies a fortnight ago.

He followed that up with two blistering goals in Dundee’s 4-0 thrashing of Cowdenbeath last week as Paul Hartley’s hopefuls returned to the top of the table.

Dundee sit two points ahead of Hamilton with only three games left ahead of today’s trip to f ace relegated Morton, and Boyle i s desperate to provide the goals to get them over the line.

‘I’ve come into the team since Paul Hartley arrived and I’m glad I’ve finally been given a chance,’ said the Aberdonian. The boss has shown confidence in me and I’ve scored all my goals since he came in. I just want to keep that going.

‘I’m relishing playing in a new role. The manager just tells me to get the ball and be positive, take it towards the goal.’

Meanwhile, Hamilton boss Alex Neil last night praised midfielder Tony Andreu for his massive contribution to Accies’ promotion bid.

And Neil, whose team face Alloa today, admitted he still cannot believe his luck that the Frenchman signed for him last summer.

Andreu is on the shortlist of four for the SPFA Players’ Player of the Year in the Championship, an accolade his manager feels is well deserved.

Neil said: ‘I wasn’t at all surprised to see Tony’s name on that short list as he has been outstanding.

‘He’s the only midfielder of the f our players as, unsurprisingly, the other three are all strikers. But the fact he has scored 11 goals for us, as well as his overall creativity, has helped Hamilton stay in the title race all season.

‘ I played against him when he was at Livingston and rated him highly.

‘ I was very surprised when they let him go and he was on the verge of signing f or a team in Switzerland, but he was recommended to us by a former employee.

‘The incredible thing is, he was left out of the first eight or nine games of the season because the team was going well.’