What a rise to fame it has been for Stockport striker Liam Dickinson. Just two and a half years ago the muscular frontman was plying his trade working for a graphics company and playing part-time football for Woodley Sports in the Unibond league. Fast forward to just over a week ago and he scored a play-off goal at Wembley to help County to their first promotion for 11 years after a dramatic 3-2 victory against Rochdale. Dickinson, a member of the PFA's ever-expanding Player Management Agency, is reported to be the transfer target of a number of clubs after netting 21 times last term. But right now he's looking forward to a well earned rest before embarking on a new challenge with County next season. Givemefootball's Mark Shail is the man armed with the questions.
Q:CONGRATULTIONS ON THE VICTORY AT WEMBLEY, YOU MUST BE DELIGHTED?
A:It was brilliant, unbelievable and for all of the team it was a dream come true. To win at Wembley and get promoted –it doesn't come much better than that.
Q:CAN YOU TALK US THROUGH YOUR GOAL?
A:One of the lads played the ball to Anthony Pilkington and I could see that he was going to whip the ball into the box so I made a run to the near post and managed to get in front of the defender and hook it into the net. I was just trying to get a solid contact on the ball and get in on target but I was over the moon when it went in.
Q:AND WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO PLAY AT WEMBLEY IN FRONT OF NEARLY 40,000 PEOPLE?
A:It was unreal. Just walking out into the stadium made the hairs stand up on the back of your neck and the tiers of seats going upwards just seemed to go on forever. I'd never been to the old or new Wembley before so it was a great experience for me. And I'd obviously never played in front of a crowd as big as that before.
Q:IT'S BEEN AN INCREDIBLE COUPLE OF YEARS FOR YOU, HASN'T IT?
A:It has, not long ago I was working for a graphics company –I just did a bit of photo-copying, nothing too important really. But I was also playing semi-professional for Woodley Sports and two and a half years later I'm playing and scoring at Wembley. I didn't have the best of seasons last year, partly due to injury, but this season I've managed to establish myself as a first choice striker and things have gone from strength to strength.
Q:ARE YOU AWARE THAT YOU HAVE BEEN LINKED WITH A NUMBER OF CLUBS IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP?
A:Only from what I've read and been told but I'm happy here at Stockport and looking forward to playing at a higher level with them next season. Obviously, like any player, I would like to do as well as I can in the game and play as high as possible. People are saying it's going to be difficult for us next season against the bigger clubs but we played against Carlisle and Tranmere in the cups and beat then both. We've got a young squad that is hungry to do well.
Q:ARE YOU GOING ON HOLIDAY NOW?
A:I have already been to Magaluf on a stag trip for one of the Stockport players, David Poole, and I'm also going to Aia Napa. We went just after the parade around Stockport following the final so you can imagine it was a pretty messy trip. Put it this way it, took a few days to recover afterwards.
