No mates on the pitch
Friday, 3rd Aug 2018“We want to put the hoodoo behind us and give the fans a good result because they have always travelled up there in their numbers.
Lee Ashcroft is looking forward to leading the team out at Tannadice in a match that will see him up against his team mates from last season, Nicky Clark and Fraser Aird. The pair took the road to Dundee in the close season but there will be no old pals stuff when the opening game of this season’s Championship gets underway. Lee explained:-
“It is probably a wee bit better for the defender because you know the ins and outs of their game. We will respect them but there are no mates in the game when you are out on the pitch.
Obviously it will be nice to see the boys again but when the whistle goes there are no pals until the end of the game. We know that they are good players but if we go there and play the way we know that we can play, then I’m sure that we can handle it and get the result that is needed.”
A positive result is something that has eluded Dunfermline in the last 15 meetings against Dundee United but Lee feels it is time to end that poor record:-
“We want to put the hoodoo behind us and give the fans a good result because they have always travelled up there in their numbers. We owe them a result up there.”
Lee has two new defensive partners this season in Mark Durnan who joined from Dundee United and Danny Devine from Partick Thistle, but he feels that the three of them have come together well in the 3-5-2 formation that Allan Johnston is playing this season:-
“It has been great so far, I have enjoyed it. It will be more of a test in the league when we play against some better teams. With three at the back you get involved in the game with the ball a bit more.
“The new boys have settled in great straight away, a lot know each other from previous clubs or playing against them. It has been a great start with four wins out of four but we will not get carried away with ourselves.”
The back three travel up and down together to Dunfermline for training so although apparent in games, Lee was almost compelled to say “We have been a good backline so far and hopefully we can build on it. We will try our best to get clean sheets for the team and let the boys do their stuff up top.
“I am absolutely delighted that we topped our Betfred Cup group. That was our goal when we saw the group, we obviously knew that Dundee would be our toughest game but went there and got a good result.
“We knew that if we played the way we could that we would beat the other three teams. We did that, got the job done and the twelve points to take us into the next round.”
The Betfred performances set Dunfermline up well for the opening match of the Ladbrokes Championship. Lee felt that has created confidence throughout the squad:-
“The results up there have not been great recently but we can go up there and get a result. We probably have the hardest start in the league with the first two games but we will take it a game at a time. If we can go up there and get a result it will put us in good stead for the season.”
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