Teenage Dover midfielder Luke Baptiste is hoping to chip in with more goals and assists this season having scored his first senior goal.
Baptiste capped his first competitive start of the campaign, scoring Whites’ fourth in their 4-0 home National League South win on Saturday against Hemel Hempstead Town. “It’s given me a lot of confidence scoring my first senior goal,” said Baptiste who, aged 18, first signed first-team terms at Crabble in January. “Hopefully now, I can go into other games and score more and I can get some assists as well.” Baptiste was one of a host of promising Academy prospects to be given a run in the first-team last term as Whites were relegated from the National League.
Fellow midfielder George Wilkinson, Will Moses, Noah Carney, Harrison Byford, Alex Green and George Nikaj also stepped up into the senior ranks, and Baptiste accepts it helps they were all promoted around the same time.
He explained: “It helps a lot because, obviously, we've grown up together. It’s not like we are coming in one by one, we are all coming in together and helping to mould into the team together. “Having your friends there from the Academy helps a lot, yeah.” Against Hemel, with Whites already 3-0 ahead, Baptiste capped a fine performance in stoppage-time with a goal.