Sam Dalby was delighted to deliver for the fans who packed the place for Wanderers’ Championship return, writes Pete Oliver.
A full house of 26,262 inside the Toughsheet Community Stadium made it a first official sell-out for the Whites since their Premier League days and a Boxing Day visit of Newcastle United in 2011.
And the home supporters went home happy after seeing Dalby fire Wanderers on their way to an up-lifting 2-1 derby-day win over Preston North End.
“Coming into this first game of the season, we just wanted three points and to put on a performance for the fans and I felt like we did that for the majority of the game,” said Dalby after first-half goals from the big striker and wing wizard Thierry Gale gave Steven Schumacher’s men the perfect start to their league campaign as they held off Preston’s late fightback
“The support has been top, especially today and especially after Wembley. For us, it's about putting on a performance for them. We said it before the game that they deserve a performance today and they deserve three points and thankfully we gave those to them.”
Dalby hadn't found the net since his spectacular goal lit up Wembley as Wanderers clinched promotion from League One in the play-off final in May.
But after a quite pre-season the Whites’ 2024/26 Player of the Year stepped up again when it mattered. Last season’s top scorer combined superbly with John McAtee all afternoon and slotted home the opener after a shot from McAtee had been spilled by North End keeper Daniel Ivesen before having another effort disallowed for a push by his strike partner.
Dalby was a constant handful for the North End defence and while he couldn’t convert a further second-half chance to kill the game, it was still a red-letter day for the 26-year-old on his Championship bow.
“Starting the season strong for me is obviously important. In pre-season you want to do everything you can but at the end of the day, it's just about getting through it, getting fit and I feel like that's done me well for the start of the season,” added Darby who picked up a serious injury last summer to delay the start of his Wanderers’ career.
“It's good to start the season strong, both on a personal note and for the team as well and any way I can help the team is positive for me.
“Playing in the Championship has been a dream of mine, so to come here today, win, score and get three points, year, I’m buzzing with it.
“We've said for a long time now about finishing games off when we're playing well and I felt like I could have done that today, but you can't score every chance, so it is what it is and thankfully, we ended up with three points anyway.
“For the vast majority of the game, we were on top. They're always going to have a spell right at the end when they nicked a goal, but to see out the game in the end is massive.”
Watch the full interview with Sam on Wanderers TV