Kyle’s no claim is still a bonus
Sunday, 26th Feb 2023KB:- “I will not claim it, I like to get goals because I’m a defender but I can’t claim things that are not mine!”
Pars captain Kyle Benedictus led the celebration of his side’s second goal against Queen of the South yet he was at pains to point out that he was not the goalscorer. Many reporting the match facts credited the 31 year old but he told the website:-
“It was an own goal, it wasn’t my goal unless it has hit a strand of my hair then I’d claim it. When the ball came in Todd was marking me and we both just went for the ball. He got there first and in trying to defend it smacked against the bar and it went in. So it was a good finish from him. I will not claim it, I like to get goals because I’m a defender but I can’t claim things that are not mine!”
Nonetheless a Craig Wighton goal midway through the first half and that 47th minute Josh Todd own goal secured the Pars sixth win from their last seven league away days. Kyle explained how pleased he and his teammates were with their day’s work:-
“It was a good three points. It is a tough place to come and I think Queens are in a false position. I think they are a very good squad and are coached very well. You can see that by the way that they try and play football.
“We are delighted to come here, get another clean sheet, three points and to come down here twice and win 2-0 both times is very pleasing.
“I think we started quite well and scored the goal which was worked from the back, was a very good team goal. I think first half we probably didn’t do that enough. The first half got a bit scrappy, Queens were coming in to it.
“The gaffer told us that we had to pick it up and to get a goal early in the second half settled it down a bit and by the end we saw it out quite comfortably.”
There was a crowd approaching 1300 at Palmerston for the match but no one could have missed the vocal instructions and encouragement roared out during the game by Kyle. He was a major influencer and he explained:-
“I like to put demands on my teammates. It is just the way I like to play. Some boys are quieter than others but I just like to be vocal and just try and give my best for the rest of the team and help them though the game.
“It is my job as captain, I need to be a leader out there but there are another ten players out there who all give their all. Every week there can be no questions of this team on the hard work part of it, apart from the first half at Airdrie. We were questioned about that but we worked very hard today to come away with three points.”
The Dunfermline team seamlessly integrated four second half substitutes and Kyle dismissed any suggestion that there was any difficulty adapting. He praised the strength of the playing squad as key:-
“Earlier on in the season we were maybe a bit thin in terms of the players that we were playing. It was mostly the same players every week but you can see boys coming back from injury and we have signed McGowan.
“You can see that the squad is very strong by the people who came on. It seems to work, the players who come on are as good as the players who go off. It is a perfect time to have a fully fit squad. There is not much time to go when it gets to this time in the season, everybody will get their chance and it is all about performing every Saturday.”
The signing of Paul McGowan is an additional bonus to the captain since it means that Kyle is no longer the oldest player at The KDM Group East End Park - the on-loan Dundee midfielder trumps his former teammate by four years. Kyle observed:-
“He gets about the pitch a lot more than me. He is a very good player, he has a lot of experience and I have played with him before at Dundee and I know what he will bring.
“He will get the best out of other players. They will give him the ball in any area on the pitch and he will keep it and play passes that probably nobody else on the pitch can see. He is very calm on the ball and in terms of his experience and his ability he is exactly what we need at this moment in time. I think the fans will see that come the end of the season.”
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