Ricky Modeste scored his first league goal of an injury-hit season against Lincoln last Saturday and thanked the manager for giving him the chance to do so.

And Modeste, who was only making his sixth start of the campaign, went agonisingly close to repaying Chris Kinnear with another goal, too.

His sensational chip left impressive Lincoln goalkeeper Paul Farman stranded before hitting the bar much to Modeste’s disappointment.

He said: “I hit it (the ball) sweet and thought it was in for sure before it hit the woodwork. I couldn’t believe it hadn’t gone in.”

But while he couldn’t celebrate his goal with a win, Modeste was at least happy to be back in the starting line-up for the first league game since the 3-2 loss at FC Halifax on February 14.

Modeste, who missed almost four months of football after damaging ankle ligaments in the league clash against Eastleigh at Crabble on August 23, said: “I don’t want to be an impact player off the bench playing little cameos (he’s done that five times to-date) for 10 minutes or so.

“I want to start, play and score goals. Now I have been given the chance against Lincoln I hope to keep my place.

“But it’s the gaffer who has the final say, so I will just have to wait and see what happens.

“We all know that we have to put in a shift every game if we want to stay in the squad because there is plenty of competition for places.

“Once you are in the side you’ve got to work hard to stay in it.”