Whatever is to unfold in the coming weeks, Sergio van Dijk’s first season in the Hyundai A-League will be remembered as a raging success.
The 26-year-old Dutchman, who joined the Queensland Roar on a two-year contract at the start of the current campaign, struggled to find the back of the net in the early stages of the 2008/09 campaign scoring just twice in 13 appearances.
But the veteran of eight seasons in Holland’s second-tier competition held his nerve, and the goals soon began to flow.
Van Dijk’s stunning hat-trick against Sydney FC last Saturday took his season tally to 10 goals – eight of which have come in the previous seven matches – to leave him just two adrift of leading scorer Shane Smeltz.
“That’s my job to score goals,” the modest Dutchman said.
“And obviously at the beginning of the season it was a little bit of a struggle for me to get a goal, but still I was confident that my time would come and luckily the last period the goals are coming so I’m not complaining.”
The prolific striker says past experiences in Holland helped him remain confident despite his lean spell in front of goal.
“At my previous clubs I’ve also had those periods where I’ve felt down and didn’t play well but this time I had the feeling I was doing my job and trying I was trying to be important for the team,” he said.
“So I wasn’t really negative about it but everybody expects of course that a striker scores goals and sometimes they don’t even mind if you play badly as long as you score goals.”
“I think those phases you have to go through and I kept my confidence and I’m having a good period now.”
Asked if adjusting to life in the A-League proved harder than he had anticipated, van Dijk reflected: “It wasn’t on my mind to get used to the Australian style of football but maybe I had to get used to the climate and all the other things over here.”
“Maybe I had to adjust a little bit and that might have had an influence on my game, but I think I’m used to it now and I’m enjoying Australia on and off the field so I’m really happy.”
The likeable Dutchman insists he is motivated by team success rather than personal milestones, and says claiming the Championship remains his primary objective.
Van Dijk fancies the Roar’s chances in the upcoming Finals series following consecutive victories and a string of strong late-season performances, and has not yet ruled out claiming the Premiership.
“We feel confident of course, we’re really happy that we made the finals because that was our goal at the beginning of the season,” he said.
“Of course we want to win every game and become winners of the grand final but at least we wanted to qualify for the finals.”
“We’re really happy now and still there are some things possible this weekend, maybe we can win the Premiership with a lot of luck, otherwise we just have to get a spot as best as possible.”
