Man of the match performance from Martin
Monday, 19th Aug 2019“It is a good achievement for us to take a team like Celtic to extra time. We deserve to be proud of ourselves.
Lewis Martin made his 138th appearance for Dunfermline in Saturday’s Betfred Cup match at Celtic Park but avid Pars supporters will struggle to recall him playing a better game. He modestly praised the effort of his Dunfermline team mates as others were singling him out for particular appreciation.
The 23 year old had a great afternoon as he broke down moves from the likes of Callum McGregor, Ryan Christie and Eduardo. He told the media:-
“The boys were different class and if we can do that all season then I’m sure that we will do well. It is a good achievement for us to take a team like Celtic to extra time. We deserve to be proud of ourselves.
“We played a good game and if it had gone to penalties you never know what could have happened. It is a lottery, 50-50 so it could have gone either way but unfortunately it never got to penalties in the end.”
Celtic had gone ahead ten minutes into the second half but Dunfermline upset the script when Tom Beadling scored a 77th minute equaliser. Lewis continued:-
“The winning goal took a deflection. Forrest hit it, it deflected and just went into the corner. Johnston’s goal was different class, with Griffiths running to the back post I thought it was a cross to be honest so we were a bit frustrated about that. Two rubbish goals for us to concede.
“When we got the equaliser we were pushing Celtic with our fresh players and we put them on the back foot a wee bit.”
Even the Celtic fans were praising the thorough way Dunfermline defended and counterattacked when ever was possible.
“That was our game plan. Our manager Stevie Crawford, Jason Dair and Greg Shields have been talking about our tactics all week and I think it showed that they worked. We knew how to play against Celtic, we sat in and stuck to what we had worked on and I thought we did brilliantly.”
It was not difficult to raise the game when you are playing the best team in Scotland in the country’s largest stadium but now that kind of performances are necessary in the league if repeat visits to Celtic Park are going to be possible in the near future. Lewis reviewed the team’s league results:-
“The first two games in the Championship we did well but they were two draws. We should be sitting on six points but only have two points. After the result it will give us massive confidence and we need to go on and do it in the Championship now.”
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