Pybus prepared for Palmerston return

“The fans turned out in their numbers against Inverness at home and have really backed us so we owe them a win, we owe them more than one win. That first one will be nice

Dan Pybus started in 48 of his 52 matches for Queen of the South in his two seasons there and this Saturday is his first return since leaving in the summer. He has only one thought though of what he wants to leave Dumfries with this time.

“It will be nice to go back and see some familiar faces but I just want the three points. Any away game is going to be tough, we’ve got to go there and start the way we started the second half at Raith. If we do that, don’t be surprised if we go and win the game.”

The 23 year old midfielder from South Shields has been ever-present in Peter Grant’s six starting elevens since the Premier Sports Cup at Ibrox on 13th August. The Pars went into Wednesday night’s match on the back of two decent results after the three defeats in a row. Dan freely admitted though that everyone accepts that the first half wasn’t good enough:-

“We were a yard off them for whatever reason and then the gaffer changed it half-time, put two forward on and I think we were a lot better. We got at them, created a lot of chances and if you look at the second half there was a potential penalty. Overall it was a much better half but it needs to be like that from the word go.”

Most teams would probably settle for a point at Stark’s Park but Dan would rather Dunfermline went there and won:-

“It is not the worst result ever. They played well in the first half and were probably the better team in the second half so overall it is a deserved draw.”

So after seven league matches without one, a victory over Queens would take Dunfermline off tenth and above Allan Johnston’s team. Dan reflected on missed opportunities in recent matches that could have changed could have broken that duck:-

“You go back to the Inverness game and we could have won it late on, last weekend against Hamilton it was more of an even game, both teams had decent chances but we probably lacked that final decision making. We are desperate for a win and hopefully it comes on Saturday.”

A win could just be the turning point that is sought and Dan feels that it was great to see so many come out at Raith:-

“The Ayr game was tough and all the lads deservedly took criticism for that because it was nowhere good enough but then the fans turned out in their numbers against Inverness at home and have really backed us so we owe them a win, we owe them more than one win. That first one will be nice anyway.”

Everyone in the team knows that individual errors have let the side down and that can only be sorted by the players themselves but Dan says there are signs in those last few games that they have looked a lot better:-

“I think we just need that first win and when we get it it will really kick everyone on and really lift the dressing room and hopefully we can get many more.

“Confidence is a big thing in football but you have to look at Wednesday night and say that in past weeks if we went one-nil down, two would have come, three would have come. Yeah we didn’t play great for the rest of the first half, we conceded after 11 minutes and that’s early to concede when you’re a team low on confidence.

“There was a disallowed goal, a penalty decision and we scored the goal. We got to half-time to group and came out much better in the second half and were the better team. There are a lot of positives to take from it.”

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