Beadling’s work rewarded
Sunday, 30th Dec 2018“I have waited a long time for those feelings and worked hard for them, thankfully on Saturday they came.”
The answer to Dunfermline Athletic’s goal scoring problems may have been resolved with the return of Tom Beadling. Saturday’s match at Falkirk was just his third start of the season but his double set the Pars on their way to their first win in four matches. Tom felt that it had all taken a long time to come.
“It has been frustrating for me and I have worked hard for moments like that really. I am just happy that I can help the team and get the win. It was nice.”
The 22 year old who signed from Sunderland in the summer modestly felt that his two goals were a real bonus.
“At the moment it is just about playing as many games as I can because I have missed a hell of a lot of football this season through injury. I am delighted to be in the team and to be back playing.”
Saturday’s match didn’t exactly get off to the best of starts as Falkirk were able to snatch a lead within the first two minutes.
“We were disappointed with the start, obviously conceding early but I thought the team reacted really really well. We kept our heads and kept playing. We knew that we would get chances against them. We plugged away and got the goals. It never looked like we were going to lose the game.”
Returning to play against his former club, Myles Hippolyte scored a 13th minute equaliser and Tom felt that the equaliser probably settled the team down.
“The first goal was a bit of a shock, we could have panicked but we didn’t. Credit to the lads we got back into the game quickly and controlled it from there on in.”
Tom was on the end of a Kallum Higginbotham free kick flicked on by Lee Ashcroft to net the Pars second goal just four minutes after the equaliser. He said:-
“I just saw the opportunity to nip in. I just got my studs to it and thankfully it sneaked in. The second one, Higgy did brilliantly again, he pulled it back to me. I have waited a long time for those feelings and worked hard for them, thankfully on Saturday they came.”
Then in pursuit of his first ever senior hattrick and Tom admitted that he thought he had done it.
“I was close with the header, I thought that was the moment. The main thing was the three points, everything else for me was a bonus. The boys deserved it, I thought we dominated the game. Everyone worked their socks off, it was a real team performance. I don’t think there was a bad performance in our side, everyone was good.”
Above: Tommy Robson and Tom Beadling. The Pars goalscorer thought that his former Sunderland team mate posed the biggest threat to Dunfermline. “We identified him before the game as their outlet with his pace. He is a good player, we had to respect him and we did.”
The manner and margin of the 4-2 win will breed confidence and everyone agrees that consistency needs to follow:-
“We spoke as a group in midweek that we have probably underachieved with the players that we have got. Our aim is to be more consistent and that starts on Saturday against Alloa. We will be going into that looking for the three points again.”
Clearly if a play off place is a realistic goal then Dunfermline need to win home games against the likes of Alloa:-
“That is what we are pushing for and we have the players to do it. We just need to put wins back to back and go on from there because it has been a bit stop start. Consistency is key for us.”
Likewise Tom could well be the key to that consistency. Now back the match fitness he felt good after coming through the game with just a bit of cramp at the end but that can be expected in just his third game back.
Equally important to the team will be the fans and Tom continued:-
“The fans are brilliant, they always are and back us no matter where we are or how we are doing. They have had to be patient at times this season. They have probably been frustrated and rightly so but they always turn up and back us and I can’t thank them enough.”
Given the tricky times Tom has come through the success at The Falkirk Stadium provided him with the perfect end to 2018. He added that wasn’t quite what he envisaged when he came to Scotland:-
“It is nice to end it on a high. It has been difficult, I can’t lie it has been tough for me. Coming up here aiming to play only to get a recurring injury was horrible but I kept my head down, worked hard and got my reward on Saturday.”
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