Dundonian Dow Delights in Friday fixture
Monday, 27th Jan 2020“This week we went back to basics and been hard to break down because we know that we are good on the counter attack, I thought it went brilliantly tonight.”
Having scored a goal in each of the three matches against Dundee this season you get the impression that Ryan Dow might just enjoy playing against his home town team.
Ryan was born in Dundee, attended a Harris Academy and was part of the school football team that won the Scottish Schools` Shield in 2005. After initially being attached to Dundee as a youth player, Ryan joined Dundee United in 2005, going on to sign a professional contract in June 2007 and spending nine seasons at Tannadice. He admitted:-
“I seem to enjoy playing against them, to grab three goals is always good but it is always good to get the win as well.
“It was good to get ahead. We had a game plan, we worked on it all week and I thought we were different class. We limited them to space, we were forcing them wide and limiting their chances.
“Someone told me that they did not even have a shot on target. They had a few that flashed across the goal and I think we created quite a lot.”
Friday night’s win took Dunfermline to within one point of Dundee in fourth. You are left contemplating where they could have been had they not five league matches in a row through the Festive period. Maddening as that is for the supporters, Ryan expressed the feeling in the dressing room:-
“It is frustrating especially because before that we were on a really good run and all confident. It is just one of these things that happens, we just went on a bad run and Friday was a massive game.
“Against a big team and good team like Dundee there was a lot of pressure but I thought the boys handled it brilliant.”
Getting back to basics was the formula that rediscovered that winning feeling claimed Ryan:-
“Before that run we were good at going forward, we were scoring a lot of goals and maybe we got a bit caught up in that thinking that we were brilliant going forward and were a little too expansive. This week we went back to basics and been hard to break down because we know that we are good on the counter attack, I thought it went brilliantly tonight.”
Kevin Nisbet scored Dunfermline’s second goal on Friday and it was a tremendous individual demonstration of skill and finishing. The kind of play that has brought him 22 goals in 29 appearances since joining Dunfermline from Raith Rovers in the summer. He is still on target to match last season’s fantastic tally of 34 in 46 matches but of course with such a success rate he is very much in the shop window as the January transfer deadline draws to a close. Ryan praised his colleague:-
“He is brilliant, a great player. When he first came in, you saw the quality straight away. I like his running ability as well, he is so powerful, quick and it just shows you with his goals, he is right up there with the best striker in the league for me.
“He has got everything, he can hold the ball up, he can run in behind. He is powerful and scores all types of goals for me, he is different class.”
Speaking from a purely selfish point of view, Ryan hopes that Kevin will not be going anywhere but East End this season:-
“I hope he stays here. Clubs will be sniffing about with the goal return but it is not just that, it is his overall play and he is a threat. Even if he doesn’t score, which is not that many times, as an overall threat he is different class. I am sure that clubs will be sniffing but I’m sure that we will be trying to hold on to him until at least the summer.”
When Kevin Nisbet scored in the 40th minute to make it 2-0 the striker made a run to celebrate with the Pars dugout and Ryan felt that just demonstrated the huge relief after a frustrating number of weeks for everyone at the club:-
“We know how good and how young we are. Don’t forget that we are a young team and might not have as big a budget as other teams in this league like Dundee. It is trying to gel. You are going to have off days but we produced far too many in a short space of time there and lost five on the bounce but everyone knows how good the gaffer and his coaching staff are. We were all fully behind them and that showed in the celebration.”
This was the Pars second Friday night fixture of the season, both against Dundee and televised live on BBC Scotland. Ryan is a supporter of kicking off the weekend with games on a Friday evening:-
“I enjoy playing on a Friday night. It brings a wee bit more atmosphere to a game. Obviously I don’t know what the fans and other people like but in the Championship most weeks there are games on Friday night. I like playing in them, night games are always better atmosphere and because it is a Friday night you usually get a decent crowd turning up. It is good.
“It is good on a Friday night to win, if you don’t win it is a long weekend until the Monday or the next game. I certainly enjoyed this one.”
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