Pars challenge blown away at Arbroath

“We worked all week to play football but as a team we did not provide that.”

Dunfermline travelled to Arbroath on Saturday badly in need of the three points that would have hoisted them to fifth in the Championship. Instead the 1-0 reverse sent them to ninth place and left the team “disheartened”. Josh Coley spoken to the media and revealed the feelings in the changing room:-

“It just didn’t really happen today. They were winning first balls, second balls. It wasn’t a very nice game to play in and the boys are really disheartened now. The changing room is not a good place, not in general, just after that result everyone is a bit down. We wanted the three points and came away with none. It is a bit heartbreaking.”

Josh who is on a season long loan from Premiership newcomers, Norwich City claimed that the team’s performance at Arbroath was just not good enough.

“We want to dominate games and play football. Even with the conditions we want to get it down on the floor and play. We couldn’t even do that.

“The ball was coming from goal kicks, they were winning the first header and they were winning the bits and pieces after that. It was just one of those days where no one really turned up at the game. All we can do is train hard this week and then go out next Saturday and put things right.”

Arbroath’s winning goal from a counterattack came after it appeared Josh had been fouled in the opposition box. He had watched the incident back immediately after the match and felt that there had been clear contact:-

“You see them given, you see them not. There were quite a few fouls where we weren’t getting much from the referee but that happens. In football we cannot really rely on the referee’s decisions just to sort us out and pave the scoreline for us.

“Controversial decision, they go down the other end and score a goal. That happens in football, you can’t blame the ref. We have to move on to the next game and put things right again.”

It appeared that Arbroath knew how to contend with a very windy afternoon at Gayfield but Josh was unwilling to blame the weather:-

“First half we didn’t create many chances at all. There was McCann’s shot that went wide, that was the only shot that we actually had. When you have got the wind with you, you are supposed to be pumping at the goal. Just like they did, they created chances, pinned us back and we just did not do that in the second half.

“That is down to us as a team and down to me specifically as a player, especially a chance creator out wide. I didn’t put any crosses in. I just wasn’t at the races today, so I will take some responsibility for that. Obviously the boys will do as well. The conditions are not an excuse or the reasons for why we lost.

“We came here to play football, how the gaffer wants us to play. We took the conditions into consideration but the gaffer still wanted us to play, second half especially because with the wind coming our way, it was just a chance to get the ball down and play football.

“You saw it more and more towards the end of the second half we were stringing more passes together. The game plan wasn’t different, we worked all week to play football but as a team we did not provide that.”

The 21 year old is confident that as a very tight knit group, the Pars squad can climb the table:-

“We want to win games, a few of them have not gone our way, a few of them we have lost because of our own mistakes but we will keep going. As soon as we get that one (win), I can only see us going further and further”

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