JAMIE GULLAN has revealed he discovered his free-kick prowess after a spur-of-the-moment decision as he admitted his relief at finally scoring from open play.
Gullan bagged a brace as Dundalk claimed their first away win of the season over St Pat’s on Monday, although boss Jon Daly reckoned he could have helped himself to four or five.
The Scottish striker gave his side the lead in the second minute with a 35-yard free-kick but admitted his second goal gave him more satisfaction.
Lilywhites ace Gullan said: “It was kind of a monkey off the back, to get the first goal from open play.
“It’s been a long time coming. I’m delighted about that.
“I think there’s been a lot more chances in the last few weeks and I took the first one today.”
Before the 3-2 win in Inchicore, which ended Dundalk’s three-month stay at the foot of the table, the 24-year-old had three goals to his name, two from free-kicks and one from a penalty.
After he scored on the opening night of the season against Shamrock Rovers, Hoops boss Stephen Bradley said he was well aware of his dead-ball prowess.
But the ex-Raith Rovers forward revealed that particular string to his bow is a relatively recent addition.
He said: “I didn’t really hit them in my career until a few years ago.
“I won a free-kick when I was at my old club and I just thought, ‘I’ll give it a hit’ and it went in.
“From there, I thought, ‘I’m all right at them, I’ll practise them every week’ and I just grew that confidence and developed a routine and built from there.
“Luckily, three have gone in this year so I’ll keep practising and hopefully more will go in.”
GOOD INFLUENCE
Daly was also familiar with Gullan’s work before teaming up with him having coached against him when he was in charge of Hearts’ Under-20 side and the player was lining out for rivals Hibs.
And Gullan is relishing how former Saints boss Daly — a regular scorer himself during a distinguished playing career in Scotland — has put an extra emphasis on attacking play since coming in.
He said: “He has instilled belief in the attacking players.
“He came in and that was what he wanted to improve because we weren’t getting enough shots, we weren’t threatening keepers enough so we’ve worked a lot on attacking play and patterns of play up front.
“I think from Friday night to Monday we’ve created a lot more than we usually do and it’s a positive start.
“Our away form has not been great and we’ve tried to address that because we’ve kept seven clean sheets in a row at home and if we bring that to away games we’ll win more than we lose.
“It’s just trying to find that defensive stability away from home that we have at home and then try to score more goals.
“We know we’ve got a squad full of quality, it’s just taking what we do at training into games, staying focused and really believing in ourselves.
“So it’s just piecing that all together and being consistent. That’s been a problem this year, consistency.”
The players have not been helped by the fact that Daly is the fifth person to take charge of the squad this season, following Stephen O’Donnell — who was sacked — and Noel King — who had to step down on health grounds — as well as caretakers Brian Gartland and Liam Burns.
And Gullan said: “In the background, there’s been a lot going on at the club over the last few months.
“As a player you try to block that out and just focus on Friday nights and doing your best.
“The fans have stuck by us and the group is brilliant. I know everyone says it but it really is and we believe we can get out of this situation and we’ll just keep working every day, every game to get out of it.”