Talbot wants back on track

Performance matters as Talbot and Morris motor against Reilly and Morgan

Jason Talbot is well aware that last Saturday`s defeat to Queen of the South dumped the Pars out of the play-off places for the first time this season. It underlines just how tough a league the Championship is proving this season and it doesn`t get any easier as Dunfermline travel west to play the club sitting in second place. The 32 year old defender is looking forward to the match against St Mirren:-

“This is a great game for us to put things right and get ourselves back into the play-off spots, at least."

The Queen of the South match was one where Jason felt that no matter what they tried to do, nothing came off:-

"We were probably trying a little bit too hard, and then still it didn’t come off. We have to settle ourselves and just look forward to this game because obviously it’s a massive game.

“We’re not a bad team, you don’t become a bad team overnight, just because you’ve not had a couple of results. We need to get back to the way we were at the start of the season - scoring early goals and finishing teams off when we had the chances, and stop leaking goals.

“I think we were unfortunate up at Tannadice not to come away with at least a point. We more than matched them for the whole 90 minutes with some great play. We were just unfortunate not to get a second goal.

“Then, we let ourselves down last weekend. But we’ve put that behind us, we’ve learned from our mistakes and we’ll go into this game fit and ready and hopefully we’ll get the three points.

After the 5-2 defeat Jason and his team mates were desperate to get back in training, he explained:-
“The best thing for us was to get out there and try to get it out of our systems as quickly as we can and look forward to this weekend.

“If we can keep a clean sheet, we’re always guaranteed to get chances in the game, hopefully we can take them and get what would be a great result for us."

A visit to St Mirren last November started off an eleven match unbeaten run and Jason hopes that an away win would have a similar effect. He added:- “That should kick-start us again and we can look forward to the next half of the season."

The Pars defence will be put to the test and know that it will be a big task to keep a clean sheet against the likes of Lewis Morgan, Jason continued:-

“They have got a good front four or five players, who do very well, so it is going to be a tough game for us. But I think we’re more than capable of beating them, and I think we showed that when we played them at home. We nullified them from the front and if we can do what we did in that game then I’m positive we can come away with a result."

One opponent that the Pars defence know well is Gavin Reilly who spent last season at East End Park while on loan from Hearts. While Gavin found the net only twice for Dunfermline, the 24 year old has scored 17 goals in 24 appearances this season. Jason claimed that he and his fellow defenders know where Gavin’s strengths lie:-

"If we can nullify his strengths and limit the chances he gets then hopefully he’s not going to stick a couple in the back of the net. He has been on form and he has scored quite a few goals so far this season, so if we cancel him out then that will be part of the job done."

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