REECE Lyon says he was gutted his family missed his wonder goal against Queen of the South because their car broke down before the game.

The Ton teenager was thrown into the starting line-up by Jonatan Johansson, and the 18-year-old more than repaid his faith by coming up with a spectacular winner against the Doonhamers at Palmerston.

After firing the visitors into a 2-1 lead with six minutes to go, the Greenock-born midfielder rushed to the crowd where he was mobbed by the travelling support.

But his dad and stepmum weren’t there in the crowd to congratulate him as they were left stranded in Greenock after their vehicle broke down earlier in the day.

While he was disappointed they couldn’t see his first senior goal, the midfielder was overjoyed and lost for words at how much it meant to him.

He told the Tele: “The gaffer was telling me the whole game to push up and to try and get myself a goal and it just fell to me, I kept my eye on the ball and struck it and managed to dip it.

“I just ran straight to the crowd, people were jumping on me but I’ll take a booking like that for that goal.

“I’ve got no words for it, it’s only my third appearance for the first team and my first start and it’s only my second league appearance, it’s just indescribable. I’m from Greenock, I live just five minutes from Cappielow so it means a lot to me.

“I didn’t have any family come down watching, they were meant to come down but their car broke down. What a night for the car to break!

“My stepmum’s car never left Greenock, and there was no chance they were coming on the team bus!”

The 18-year-old has impressed Johansson since the Finn arrived at the club.

After playing well in the Ton reserves’ 3-1 win over Celtic’s second string side, where he also found the back of the net, the boss brought him into the first team squad for training.

He came off the bench against Ayr United back in September, and with Chris Millar ruled out of the game after a groin injury against Ross County, he was brought straight into the starting line-up.

But the midfielder says it was easy fitting in, having already played alongside fellow centre-midfielder Michael Tidser against Queen’s Park Reserves last November.

Lyon says the vast experience of Tidser and skipper Jim McAlister helped him through the game.

Lyon added: “I’ve played with Tidser before for the reserves at Queen’s Park. Him and Jim talked me through the game and it was really good to play alongside those experienced players. 

“There’s a lot to learn from them.

“The manager has had faith in me. When I came on against Ayr it was 1-1 and obviously the result didn’t fall for us and the gaffer said not to feel too bad because I didn’t do too badly when I came on.

“I’ve proved myself, I’ve been playing well in the reserves and the gaffer has put his faith in me.

“I’ve just got to thank the gaffer for having faith in me because he’s the one that’s got me the goal.”