Home win essential
Wednesday, 13th Apr 2022Coll Donaldson: - "I don`t want to be part of a Dunfermline team that goes down to League One.
Pars defender Coll Donaldson wants to remind everyone that as well as being a player he is also a football fan and he wouldn’t want Dunfermline fans spending the close season contemplating life in the third tier of Scottish football:-
“I’m not out of touch with what it’s like, and I see the joy that we bring. When we won that derby, I could see what it meant to the fans, and I don`t want to be part of a team that lets fans go over the summer looking at playing in League One next year.
"That`s not what I`m looking to do. I`m looking to give them as much of a positive end to the season as we can. It`s still not a great season - a club like Dunfermline shouldn`t be, with three games to go, fighting for their lives to get out of a play-off or relegation in general - but that`s the motivation I take from that.”
Loan players sometimes get regarded as not caring for the club they go out to but that is not the case for Coll, he said that he could be called old fashioned with his outlook:-
"I`m all in. I have been from the minute I`ve got here. I`m doing it for managers, I`m not doing it for myself and I know the importance of derbies, relegation and all the taunting. When you go to your work on a Monday morning and your team`s been turned over at the weekend, there`s nothing worse.”
Coll admitted the defeat to Kilmarnock ruined his both his birthday and his weekend but gave credit to the league leaders for their performance:-
“I thought we were poor away at Inverness, but Saturday we didn`t carry a threat, and if it wasn`t down to Jakub, it probably could`ve been a worse defeat.
"Saturday was as tough a game as I`ve certainly faced since I`ve come to the club. They set up to completely stifle the way that we play, and had a style of play that they thought would work against us, and it`s probably one of those afternoons for them as well where every 50-50 was falling their way.”
The defeat was possibly more disappointing following the elation of defeating Raith Rovers in midweek:-
"That`s the highs and lows of football. I`ve said to the boys that, when we play the way we play, it`s as good a team that I`ve been involved in at this level.
“Look at our forward players; Dom (Thomas), Poly (Liam Polworth), Stevie (Lawless), Kev (Kevin O`Hara), even the two midfielders, two full backs. How they manipulate the ball and move teams around at home, and when we win those games, it`s like how can we not just turn up and do that?
"It is not as easy as that. You look at a Derek McInnes type of coach, and he`s had that reputation for being able to stop teams doing what they want to do, and it`s exactly what happened on Saturday.
"We need to get that different side to us that, when a team`s not just going to come and stand five yards off us and let us pass the ball around them, that we`ve got that other side to us that we can go and match it physically and nick a win when we aren`t at our best."
With eighth placed Ayr United the visitors to East End Park on Saturday, Coll and his team mates know that this week they will need to be at their best and take three points from what both sides will be terming a massive game.
“There`s no hiding away from that” said Coll “but I think the one positive that we can take is that we`ve had massive games now for three or four months, especially the home games.
"I think when you`re in this sort of relegation battle, you look to your home games to win. The last three home games has been where our best football`s been.
"We`ve dealt with that pressure. The Raith Rovers game, it`s a derby so there`s even more pressure on that, and I felt we, comfortably, won the football match. We`ve got to take positives from those games and use them on Saturday."
Coll has played ever minute of all fourteen Pars matches since arriving on loan from Ross County at the beginning of January. While his parent club earned themselves a place in the top six, Coll is dealing with something different. He knows a win is essential whereas Ayr may be happy with a point but that has its pros and cons:-
"Congratulations to Ross County. It`s a great achievement but my focus is completely on Dunfermline and it has been since the minute I got here.
"If you`re playing for a draw, you can get behind the ball and be hard to beat. We played Morton here a couple of weeks ago, and they weren`t going all out to win the game, and it was difficult to break down.
"Sometimes if you play a team, like we played Partick Thistle, who tried to match us in every way and we came away with a 4-1 win. Sometimes those games are a wee bit easier when a team`s trying to attack, and you`re going blow for blow, whereas if you`re playing a team that`s eleven men behind the ball, it`s hard to break down.
"We`ve got take care of ourselves. Our performance last Saturday wasn`t good enough so, naturally, there has to be a reaction this Saturday. Let`s not try to worry too much about what Ayr are doing.
"Obviously, you need to take into account what they`re going to try and do, and their strengths and weaknesses, but let`s take care of ourselves on Saturday first and, hopefully, that will be enough to win the football match.”
The 27 year old central defender claims that he is currently the most comfortable he has felt since playing at Inverness. He is confident within himself and full of desire to help John Hughes’ team away from the threat of relegation and play offs:-
"I`ll not be getting caught up in the occasion to be honest. I`ll be trying to do my best and I prepare for pretty much every game the same. It is a cliche answer, but I genuinely do. I don`t get any different for, say, playing in a Scottish Cup semi or playing in a league game in the Championship."
Supporters Conduct Reminder
The home support has played a significant part in recent positive results and the club is grateful for this strong vocal backing.
However, there have been several incidents at the Morton and Raith Rovers matches which breach league rules and break the country’s laws.
It is a reminder to all supporters that pitch incursions and the letting off of flares are criminal offences and bring the club in to disrepute.
Please continue to give the club brilliant vocal backing against Ayr United but within the parameters of the laws.
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