Omar Bugiel has responded to Johnnie Jackson’s call for more goals from him, as he aims to build on a new personal best for an EFL season.
Our Lebanese international forward took his tally to seven in his first campaign with us, when he scored with a downward header inside the box from skipper Armani Little’s cross in the first half.
“I’m sort of like a focal point when we go forward,” said Omar after the 2-0 victory over promotion chasing Barrow.
“If I can get one or two in a game, the manager is happy with me. Personally though, I want to do better than what I have done in the last two or three years and at the moment it’s looking good for me.
“I’ve just got to keep going, keep doing what I have been doing in training and hopefully there’s many more to come.”
You can listen to everything Omar had to say below.
Along with a spectacular opening effort from distance from Ronan Curtis, we went on to register a sixth home league win out of our last seven.
“His effort was definitely better than mine!” said Omar. “I’m happy for him, he’s worked hard and had a lot of setbacks, especially having been out for a year.
“We’ve wanted to make this place a fortress since the start of the season and become hard to beat here. Once again this was a professional performance all over the pitch, everyone did their jobs and I thought we deserved the win in the end.”
Having formed a successful partnership up front with Ali Al-Hamadi for the first half of the season, Omar is now looking to strike up an understanding with our new striker Josh Kelly. The deadline day signing had a couple of good chances to open his Dons account on his home debut.
“You’ve got to give him time,” said Omar supportively. “It was the same with Ali at the start of the season when he couldn’t score, but once he scored one – he couldn’t stop. We’re hoping it’s going to be the same for Josh Kelly.”
Omar was the subject of alleged racist abuse at Bradford the previous weekend, but he’s felt well supported by both clubs since the incident.
“The reaction has been brilliant,” said Omar. “Even today I received mail from a Bradford fan on social media and they were very supportive after what happened. I really appreciated it.
“I can tell that we have a proper club here, supportive of our players and fans that stood by. I’m glad we were all together on this one.”
Having come off midway through the second half, Omar is now working on being ready for Tuesday evening’s tricky trip to Accrington Stanley. We’ll be looking to avenge a 4-2 defeat at the Cherry Red Records Stadium back in October, when Omar scored twice.
“I think I overstretched, as I can do,” said Omar. “I get involved in tackles and unfortunately I felt a bit of tightness there, but I’ve got enough days to recover and be ready for the next one.”
Photos: Stephen Flynn (Pro Sports Images).