Virtual National Game Awards 2019-20: Professional Footballers’ Association SPL Central Player of the Season Dion Sembie-Ferris

HIGH-FLIER: Winger Dion Sembie-Ferris has come on bundles under boss Jimmy Dean. Picture: WhiteRosePhotos
By Chris Dunlavy
Dion Sembie-Ferris credits manager Jimmy Dean with forging the “killer instinct” that has turned him into one of Step 3’s most lethal finishers.
The winger, who spent five years at Colchester United, had scored just 14 career goals before joining Peterborough Sports from St Neots Town in 2018.
But after netting 20 times in his debut season, Sembie-Ferris upped his tally to 24 in the current campaign to bag the Professional Footballers’ Association SPL Central Player of the Season Award.
“I’ve got to give a lot of the credit to Jimmy,” says the 24-year-old dad-of-one. “From day one he’s told me I can do so much more. He’s always on at me, and he won’t accept anything less than perfection.
“That desire to score is a prime example. At St Neots, I was getting very frustrated. I looked back at my games and I didn’t look like a player who wanted to score. Jimmy saw that straight away. He was going on at me, ‘Get in the box, get to the back post’. He never stopped until it lodged in my brain.
“I’ve lost count of how many goals I’ve got just from attacking that back post, and the lads have made it easy for me with the service they’ve provided. That killer instinct I’ve developed has been massive for me, especially as a winger. To score 24 goals at Step 3, I’m very proud.”
Dean, whose side sat top of the table when the season was abandoned in March, returned the tribute.
“He’s not only a fantastic footballer,” he said. “He’s a fantastic boy, a great dad and a really well-rounded individual. He’s been an absolute pleasure to work with, he really has.
“Dion had fallen away from football when we got him. He’d come out of Colchester and was on the bench at St Neots, who were getting relegated.
“I got a fella who was ready to go again, and I could see it. That’s why I pushed him and pushed him and pushed him. He responded so well and he deserves all the accolades he gets.”
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Images courtesy of The Non-League Paper & WhiteRosePhotos