Kallum thrives off the banter
Monday, 21st Aug 2017Kallum Higginbotham was a Falkirk player the last time Dunfermline registered a win over Falkirk.
Kallum Higginbotham was a Falkirk player the last time Dunfermline registered a win over Falkirk. He was very unpopular with Pars fans that day but now the roles are reversed and the 28 year old received a lot of stick from Falkirk fans as he lined up for the opposition. Kallum said that it felt great to get the victory for the home fans.
"It is fans who pay the money and they are entitled to have their opinions. I thrive off it if anything. There is a great bit of banter between players and fans. They are the ones that go home crying, I went home happy. They had the success last season, it is my turn this year."
The 3-1 win courtesy of goals from Declan McManus and a double from Joe Cardle was the objective from the outset and Kallum continued:-
"That was our aim at the beginning of the game - go out and get the three points. We didn`t manage a win over them last season so first game of the season against our biggest rivals it was great to get the victory.
"If you look at our games at home this season I think we have done well in every game. Especially in the Betfred Cup and that has given us that platform to go and build on it.
"It is about starting fast, especially in a Derby and what better way to do that than get two goals in eleven minutes. We need to build on that result."
Kallum confesses that his team will not get carried away with success so early in the season.
"Most people would have Falkirk as one of the favourites this season. They have been up there in the last two seasons especially when big teams have been in the league as well. I think they are rightly tipped as contenders.
"If we want to be up there as real contenders we need to beat the likes of Inverness and Falkirk at home and we have done that in the last couple of weeks. The boys are buzzing at the minute and long may that continue."
Kallum was a Falkirk player between June 2010 and January 2012. He made 61 appearances during which he scored seven goals. At that point Falkirk was the only Scottish club of his first six clubs, a career that started at Rochdale and Accrington Stanley and then later at Huddersfield, Barnsley and Carlisle. He speculated as he why the Derby game was so heated:-
"You are always going to get that in Derby games, it is just unfortunate that they couldn`t keep their cool. They probably played better when they went down to nine men. We need to start managing games better, we did that in midweek as well against Arbroath when they lost a man and they turned out to be the better team in the second half.
"We need to keep the ball better and control the game better. We need to start picking them off and I believe we would have scored more goals but when everyone is trying to run forward and want to get on the score sheet when they start losing men. We need to keep our head and control the game better."
Reminded that he had a first half spat with the Falkirk captain Mark Kerr that earned them both yellow cards, Higgy suggested that just happened in the heat of the game:-
"There was not much in it, it was just the heat of the game, there was not much in it. I know Kerr from my time at Patrick Thistle, I apologised, the same happens at most Derby games. It is just the heat of the moment and you just need to brush it off and concentrate on the victory."
"Our aim is always to get promotion, it is a Premiership football club with exceptional facilities. They have underachieved over the last few years and the players that we have brought in are definitely a Premiership squad.
"It was a really encouraging performance and some of the goals were really good. There are obviously bigger budgets in the league but if we can go under the radar through the season and keep performing how we are performing, then we are happy to do that and we will see where that takes us come the end of the season."
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