Clark up for the Cup
Friday, 17th Nov 2017"Hampden Park should remain the place to go for major football matches. It is tradition.
With the exception of Cammy Smith, Stuart Morrison and Ryan Williamson, the international break provided the Pars squad with a much appreciated weekend off. Striker Nicky Clark took advantage of the opportunity to make his first trip to Murrayfield Stadium to witness Scotland defeat Western Samoa 44-38.
Much as Nicky admired the Scottish Rugby Union`s international venue, he still feels that Hampden Park should remain the place to go for major football matches and he is delighted to be returning there albeit in just the Third Round of this season`s William Hill Scottish Cup:-
"It is the place to play all the big games. It is the place you want to be because towards the end of the season it is where all the big games are played. It is a great game to be involved in."
Nicky`s experiences of cup ties at Hampden include two Old Firm games where he won one and lost one and the Scottish Cup Final in 2016 when he was in a Rangers squad that went down 3-2 to Hibs. Regardless of that last trip there Nicky claimed:-
"It is great to go and play at Hampden. Obviously if you get to the semi or the final you get to play there again but we will look forward to Saturday.
"Whatever cup competition that you are in you want to do as well as possible and try and get the the latter stages of it. That is our plan and I think we have a good enough squad to push on and there is no reason why we can`t go far in this competition."
The tie pitches Nicky against Gus MacPherson`s League One club and it was Gus who signed Nicky for Queen of the South in July 2011. That gives him the knowledge that the former Pars player will have his team well set up. Nicky added:-
"We know that it will be tough and Queens Park will make it hard for us. He is a great manager to have, he will have them organised and hard to beat.
"We will need to work hard to break them down. I am sure that they will set up with a back four and midfield five. They will let us play and try and beat us down. It will be down to us to deal with that."
It will be two weeks since the last match at The Falkirk Stadium. Nicky agreed that was tough game and lamented the sendings off of firstly Kallum Higginbotham and towards the very end, Declan McManus.
"We gave them the advantage and made it hard for ourselves. The boys defended well when we went down to ten men."
The 26 year old striker who joined Dunfermline from Bury in August last year has scored eight goals in 14 appearances this season but has not found the net since scoring at Brechin on 23rd September. He would dearly love to bring his six match drought to an end.
"I am desperate to get on the scoresheet, and for me and the team to go on and do well. We need to get back to scoring goals like we were doing at the start of the season. Hopefully on Saturday we can go and get a few."
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