Matt but ready to shine
Sunday, 17th Nov 2019“It was a huge relief to get back on the park, I am just buzzing to be back.
When eighteen year old Matthew Todd led out the Dunfermline Athletic reserve team at Kilmarnock last Monday it was a happy return to the pitch after a seven week absence. He explained to the website the reason for his absence:-
“I rolled my ankle in training and had to go for a scan. It turned out that I had injured my ankle ligaments and I did it at the same time last year.
“It possibly would have healed quicker than last year but when doing my rehab in the gym I rolled it again on the trampette.
“The set back during the comeback time meant I had to go for an injection two weeks ago. The injection has cleared most of it up.
“I am delighted to be back with the boys, it has been a mentally tough task to come back fit but I am just buzzing to be back.”
Matty made his league debut in February this year while just seventeen and went on to start all four league matches in April. In total Matty made ten first team appearances last season.
Four appearances this season, one start in the Tunnock’s Caramel Wafer Cup and three off the bench against Dundee, Celtic and Dundee United gave the former Dunfermline High School pupil great expectations for the season but the training ground injury meant that his last appearances was in the Reserve Cup game against Motherwell in September. He continued:-
“It was a huge relief to get back on the park, I am just buzzing to be back. It has been frustrating watching both the first team and the reserve boys from the sidelines but they have been doing very well.”
Eight of ten players he led out against Kilmarnock were older than him but Matty has confidence in his qualities:-
“I am happy to take leadership roles, it was good. Despite the wind and the rain I thought I did alright. I would have liked to have got on the ball more, made more forward runs and more passes. That is what I like to do. The pitch was flat and nice and skiddy with the rain. We just weren’t allowed to play our own game.
“Premiership clubs rarely make mistakes and overall they were better on the day. We had chances in the first half to score goals. At half time we thought if we could just keep playing and doing what we are good at, we would get our chances in the second half. A couple of mistakes and we found ourselves 3-0 down.”
There was a consolation goal that went in off the back of a Kilmarnock defender but the game also marked another important milestone on the road to recovery for Joe Thomson. His recovery is ahead of Matty’s who added:-
“Joe is a great lad and I am happy for him to be back. The manager wants competition for places and so I just need to keep working hard. If can get another 75 to ninety minutes in the reserves on Tuesday, hopefully I can stake a claim for a place.”
After the disappointing result at Alloa, Matty is sure that the Pars will be up for the next game, the Scottish Cup tie at Stranraer:-
“We will bounce back, we always do. The mood in the camp is good, everyone is positive. We are just disappointed with the result on Saturday and hopefully against Stranraer we can get through to the next round of the cup and kick on in the league again to get us into the play offs.”
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