Now hailed by the press as “Deadly Dudley”, DJ Campbell is reaching the status of a cult hero at Birmingham City.
Blues fans are always in search of unlikely heroes and the former warehouse worker has found a place in their hearts this year.
Unable to make a proper mark in their doomed Premiership campaign last year, DJ has taken his goal tally to twelve this season, with an enviable goals to minutes played ratio.
Left out of the sixteen a few times, perhaps unjustly, he hasn`t moaned or complained, but got on with the job and made sure that Steve Bruce wasn`t able to ignore him for long.
He turned up trumps again yesterday, making his mark on the scoresheet within three minutes of replacing the unlucky Cameron Jerome (who, incidentally had done a great job of softening up the Coventry defence).
He got on the end of Kelly`s long ball and charged down hapless defenders who were already tired from fending off the attacks from Jerome, Bendtner and Vine.
His second goal was, if anything, better as he launched himself forward on to Nafti`s cross and crashed the ball into the roof of the net.
Two more real poacher`s goals from a player who has the knack of getting himself into exactly the right place at the right time.
Campbell will never have the silky skills of players from the Arsenal stable, or the strength of the stockier powerhouses like Rooney, but he is the archetypal “fox in the box”, always looking for the chance to score – and sometimes scoring in the most unlikely circumstances.
Utterly fearless, he will run at defenders that dwarf him, and he is always first into the box for a goalmouth scramble.
Probably best of all in a supersub role, the excitement peaks when DJ is ready in the technical area as the fans know that there is a good likelihood of a goal.
Campbell loves his football at St Andrew`s and if Birmingham can hang on to an automatic promotion spot, the little guy will know that he has made a massive contribution.
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