Lee lashes the Lions
Wednesday, 4th Apr 2018“When you start picking up wins they keep coming. We need to keep that momentum going into the play offs. Anything can happen when you get there.”
Lee Ashcroft does not score many goals but every time he scores Dunfermline win. He feels that he has been due one and his latest, his seventh for the club since joining from Kilmarnock in July 2016, was a crucial match winner. The 24 year old central defender said:-
“I know that I should be scoring more goals but it was good to get one against Livingston. Another on Saturday would be nice.”
Allan Johnston described Lee’s 11th minute finish to score the only goal of the game as “like a striker`s finish”. Lee admitted that he did not really know what had happened:-
“After it happened I was questioning myself, did I actually score there? Then one came out of the box and I had a shot. I said what am I doing man, I think I am a striker now!
“I cannot really remember much about the goal. It seemed to happen from a flick on and it was just instinct to put my foot towards it. It looked like a good finish so I will just say that I have that in my locker.”
For a large part of the game after Lee’s goal he found himself deployed heavily in a defensive role. He admitted that it was a win of a scrappy nature:-
“It was a hard night but we all defended well after being lucky enough to get the goal early doors.
“You know when you are 1-0 up that the second half is going to be hard against them especially when they have gone 11 league games unbeaten. They are full of confidence and we knew that they were going to throw everything at us.
“They have a lot of big boys in their team and it was not a night for a lot of football. There was a lot of tackling and heading the ball but that suits me. All the boys fought to the end and it is good when you hear the final whistle and take the three points.
“We all fought for each other. If somebody missed the first ball there was always somebody to take the second ball. They flung big Lee Miller on and there was a lot of big boys on the pitch. It was a battle and we knew that it was going to be like that because of the way they play.
“They have not beaten us all season so we were confident that we could hold on. They have done brilliantly to be in second, but if we had played like that for most of the season we would have been right up there.”
One game at a time said Lee as the four remaining fixtures see the Pars up against the teams currently sitting in the bottom four.
“We know that we can win them all. Derbies are obviously harder games especially away to Falkirk but after beating them twice here this season we are due to beat them away. If we get the points there then it is a good run of games that we have.
“We are confident of winning them all but we will take them one game at a time and hopefully the teams round about us can drop points. We just need to do what we are doing and pick up the points so that going into the last games of the season we have a cushion.”
The success of the defence which has recorded nine shut outs in the last fifteen games, is a major factor in taking the Pars to third place in the Ladbrokes Championship. Lee felt that scoring early in games was the basis of the early season success and Tuesday night certainly followed that pattern. He said:-
“When we score here first we are confident and I think you can see that through. It was a battle and is not pretty at times. Every game in which we have gone ahead in here we have fought.
“The way it is just now we are confident at the back. Obviously Lee Robinson has been brought in behind us and he has made some great saves when he needs to, his kicking has been brilliant for us as well.
“We are confident in each other and hopefully the strikers can keep producing the way that they have been producing with their work rate and goals that they have been getting recently. We need to stick at it.”
For the defenders it is all about clean sheets that can give the team a chance of picking up results.
“When you start picking up wins they keep coming. We need to keep that momentum going into the play offs. Anything can happen when you get there.”
Success in through the play offs would almost certainly have to include beating Livingston.
“They have had a brilliant season, let’s hope that is not the last time that we play them this season. That would mean that we would be in the play offs. There are still hard games coming up but one game at a time.
“If we can get in the play offs we can push on and I think that we are confident in the way that we are playing right now, that we can beat anybody.”
Tom Beadling talks after Livingston match
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