Pars must re-discover high standards

“Hopefully this weekend we can put in more of a Morton like performance than a Partick Thistle one.”

Joe Thomson made 35 appearances for Queen of the South while there on loan from Celtic for the second half of the last two seasons. Although a Dunfermline player now, Joe is impressed with Queens recent run, undefeated in their last five matches, that has taken them into the play off places:-

“They have a lot of good players including Stephen Dobbie and Gary Harkins. They are the ones who stand out. Whatever team they put out, we know that they will able to cause us problems and we will need to be at the top of our game.”

The performance will need to be better than last Saturday at Firhill when they definitely weren’t at the top of their game. Joe commented:-

“It wasn’t up to the standards we set the week before. To go from that to the performance we put in against Partick was disappointing. We were obviously looking to continue the momentum but it wasn’t to be.”

The last match only reflected the inconsistency that has plagued the Pars this season. The 21 year old added:-

“It seems sometimes like we are taking a step forward and then maybe one or two back. We keep talking, I’m sure that you have heard other players and management saying, that we need to put a run together. That would take us to where we want to be.

“Picking up three points here and there will just make us a mid table team and with the group of players that we have got, we are far better than that.”

Things are just not going Dunfermline’s way at times. Against Morton, Aidan Keena put the Pars ahead when an early shot came back off the post. Two more goals were added without reply to make it a very comfortable home win. Joe continued:-

“On other days when it comes back off the post it has gone past the players before they can react to get there. It is just your luck sometimes but we need to improve our performances as a team.

“Hopefully this weekend we can put in more of a Morton like performance than a Partick Thistle one.”

“Nobody wants to get beat at anything you do. It is frustrating but since I arrived here, we go into every game with the belief in the dressing room that we think that we have better players than the opposition and that we can go out there and win. Hopefully I can contribute to a winning team.”

The Palmerston Park pitch is felt by some visiting teams to be a bit of a leveller. Joe has heard plenty moans about the artificial surface but it doesn’t bother him.

“It is going to be a hard place to go, they are on a good run and got themselves into the play offs spot. That obviously is where we are aiming to be, so we are going down there aiming for the three points.”

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