Cammy out to push his coach

Teams can park the bus but Cammy wants to push the coach

The pre season friendly against Stenhousemuir on Saturday gave Cammy Gill his first taste of action since playing in an SPFL Reserve League match against Ross County on Tuesday 18th February. The 22 year old keeper who made 12 appearances for the first team last season played the first 45 minutes of the club’s first pre season friendly and admitted it felt a bit strange since it had been a long time out due to the Coronavirus lay off. He told the website:-

“It is really exciting to get back playing. Obviously it is very early days yet for the boys, their first 45 minutes. We are still a bit rusty but we are getting there. The training has been really good and I think everyone is just buzzing to be back to whatever shape or form that it is.”

Despite including a run of seven consecutive first team starts, Cammy found it hard to recall much about last season feeling that it was so long ago:-

“It has been difficult and it is different but we are here now. It is the first time that we have experienced all the protocols surrounding a game but it is something that we are going to have to get used to.

“Just the fact that we are able to get back into friendlies and back on the pitch is brilliant for us and we are enjoying it. We can only do so much in training but it is another thing getting the minutes in. It was our first 45 and some boys played 90 so we will hopefully build on that. There are a lot of friendlies coming up, the more minutes that we get in the sharper we will get.

“There are a lot of new boys this season so we are going to have to get used to everyone’s different styles of play, weaknesses and strengths. The more we can play together, the better we are going to be.”

Cammy was annoyed to concede an early penalty against Stenhousemuir when he took down striker Thomas Muir after making a good save from a firmly struck shot by former Pars man David Hopkirk. Cammy put that down to his own personal rustiness:-

“You can see that by the way I gave away a penalty. It is something that we can only work on. Owain Fôn Williams has come in with a coaching role and that has been brilliant for myself and Swints (Ben Swinton). I am feeling very sharp myself and that is credit to the training that we have been doing.”

Former Wales keeper Owain Fôn Williams came in on loan from Hamilton Academical towards the end of last season and played six games. The 33 year old stopper’s move to Dunfermline was made permanent in August as player / coach and now the young Dunfermline keepers are keen to cash in on Owain’s 400+ senior appearances in both England and Scotland. Cammy continued:-

“There has been a lot of emphasis on the goalkeeping in training, not so much on outfield runs. We have been doing all the goalkeeper runs, it is a completely different kind of fitness. Myself and Swints are loving having Owain in, I feel that it has definitely taken us up a few levels already.”

Cammy had Dave Westwood (pictured above) as his goalkeeping coach since he was ten years old and he paid tribute to his former mentor:-

“Westie was brilliant for me and I still keep in touch with him. Now we have different training methods and techniques, a little bit of freshness and the more that we get used to it the better it is going to be. So far we have absolutely loved it.

“Obviously Fônners has been signed and he will be starting number one but I have got to do everything in my power to try and get in. I think everyone knows that I really do want it. I put the work in training to try and get that chance. If I can impress as much as I can in the friendly games, it is another opportunity for me to go and express myself and make it as difficult as I can for my coach.”

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