Good to be back

Ryan returns to Bayview and Ryan returns to action saying "I will do everything I can to try and be in the team."

Ryan Wallace scored 31 goals in making over 50 appearances for East Fife, so it was in very familiar surroundings that he made his first start since 3rd January. The 24 year old striker was plagued with injuries last season limiting his appearances to only five, and the last time he completed a full match at first team level was against Rangers at Ibrox in February 2014. Thankfully, after playing for just short of an hour on Saturday, his post match reaction was good:-

"I am feeling alright. Obviously it has been a long time since I played for that length of time on the park. Up until now training has been good; I have managed to do every training session without any hindrance.

"I have been looking after myself and putting in a lot of work in over the summer to try and get to the stage where I need to be. Given how long I have been out, I am off it a bit but that will come with games. It is good to be back.

"It is good to get sixty minutes under my belt and to be back playing and round about the boys again. Hopefully I can stop talking about my injury and people will put it behind them. I can kick on from here and hopefully go on and have a good season and get the club back to where it needs to be.

"I need a run of games to try and get fit, to stay in the team. That is down to the manager if he wants to pick me but I will do everything I can to try and be in the team."

Ryan is happy that the new manager Allan Johnston, has made it clear to him that he is understanding and not putting him under any immediate pressure:-

"The manager gave me a call just before we came in and asked me how I was. I explained my situation to him and he has been brilliant with me since we started back. He had a chat with me as soon as I came in the door on the first day and told me exactly what he wanted from me.

"Even in training the boys are looking fit and they are looking sharp. The training has been very good, so I don't think there is added pressure I think it is a good thing that there has been change now. Last season has gone and boys need to move on from there. A fresh start is what everybody needs, that is what they have been given so they are looking forward to the season.

"Every year you see new faces come in the door, that's football. Some faces stay, some faces go but it has been good so far, the boys who have come in have knitted in very well. It takes time, you don't just put a team out on the park that is going to click there and then - very rarely unless you are a top top player.

"It is great to get all the boys in and getting playing time on the pitch. Other than that it will take a bit of time to knit a team together. That is why we have so many pre season games and we were in so early - to get everybody together and getting used to each other."

The three goals against East Fife came from three different goalscorers. Ryan had a couple of efforts but he will have to wait a little longer to find the net for the first time since August last year.

"I will just keep going. At the end of the day, I have said it before, if I can affect the game and score goals then I will take that but if I can roll the ball to one of my colleagues to tap the ball into the net, then I don't mind doing that either. I would rather take the three points than a goal or shot at goal myself and maybe miss.

"It was good to see Moffat in particular get on the scoresheet today. That will give him some confidence and hopefully he can go on a run and score a few goals this season."

Even better to see Ryan back in action. Let's hope his injury problems are behind him.

Related Stories

• East Fife 0 Dunfermline 3
• Manager Post East Fife
• DAFC and SRJ Windows
• Jock Stein 30th Anniversary Charity Match