Lee looking for lift from new gaffer
Friday, 11th Jan 2019"Results haven’t been great for us but it is down to us on the park to get the finger out and push on now.”
Having seen Stevie Crawford and Greg Shields appointed to take charge of Dunfermline, central defenderLee Ashcroft is hoping that the effect of new management will spur the Pars into a repeat of their opening day of the season victory at Tannadice on Saturday.
The club captain said that he was sad to see his manager leave the club and that makes it the second time Lee has been left behind by Allan Johnston as the same thing happened to him while at Kilmarnock. He knows the blame lies on more than just the manager:-
“It is never an easy situation. I have known him for a long time so it is sad to see him go. The players themselves know that we should have been doing better this season. Results haven’t been great for us but it is down to us on the park to get the finger out and push on now.”
Lee admits that the team has not performed well enough this season and should be higher up the league than they are. The 25 year old who was signed by Allan Johnston for Dunfermline in May 2016 said that all the players need to take responsibility because results, that has seen them gather 24 points from 20 league matches, is not good enough.
“We have had a chat this morning and had a good training session. It is time to get on with it now, we have a big game at the weekend where hopefully we can get a result and push on.
“We had a positive result up there last time, that is something that we can take up there. We have seen a stat that Dundee United have struggled at home as well. Hopefully we can go up there, get a positive start to the game and get a positive result as well.”
It is generally accepted that the fresh approach and the new management bounce can sometimes create the turnaround where previous management have failed. Lee agreed:-
“It is all about trying to impress again, making sure that you are ready to play and make a statement. I think with a fresh start a lot of the boys will be trying to get themselves in about it again. Those who have not been playing will see it as a fresh start as well and see it as a chance to get themselves back into the team and playing.
“It is always a time when players get a spring in their step and go. With a new manager coming in he will have his take on things and hopefully he can push us forward.
“We are still just four points off the play off places and that shows that for other teams it has been similar. We know ourselves that we should be doing better than what we are.”
Saturday’s match which brings together a former management team, Robbie Neilson and Stevie Crawford in opposite dugouts. The game will be about what happens on the park though and the chance for the Pars players to show they can do it against one of the best:-
“On the park it is about you and you are trying the best for yourself. It is probably one of the hardest games in the league for us and it is never an easy place to go.
“Even though we have gone through a lot of sticky patches this season so far all the boys are confident that we can put a run together to put ourselves up there. We have had a few good results but then had to step back after a couple of poor ones. It has been one of those seasons.”
Recalling that last season Dunfermline completed the league programme undefeated in their last ten fixtures with seven wins and three draws and two defeats in 21 games during the previous season, Lee concluded:-
“It has not gone the way that we hoped that it would have gone but there are still a lot of games, a lot of points to play for, we have had a positive week in training and hopefully we can go out there and start it off with a result that would be a massive boost to us.
“In the last couple of seasons we have gone on runs at some point where we have picked up the points. Hopefully we can do that again.”
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