Cammy’s goal

“I obviously wanted to be at Dunfermline first and foremost, but at the age I am at as well, it is about getting that step into the first team and get men’s football.

For Cammy Gill it feels a first team start has been a long time coming. Now the 21 year old is hoping to hold on to the jersey as long as he can, he told the media:-

“It is something that I have been wanting to do for the last couple of seasons. I have not had the opportunity and before I signed for this season, the gaffer said that there was a genuine chance that I could be playing.

“It wasn’t just a case of waiting on something to give a number two goalkeeper a chance. It is never easy. I have been waiting on injuries in the past and if something happens someone else is coming in. It is tough, but I am over the moon that I have finally got my chance.”

Cammy had only just turned 17 when he first appeared on the Pars bench in May 2015 and was number two to David Hutton at the start of the 2016-2017 season. Sean Murdoch then came in and when David Hutton left at the end of that season, Cammy became number two to Sean. Lee Robinson was brought in when injury prevented Sean could not continue in January 2018. A year on Ryan Scully arrived and Cammy remainder number two but Stevie Crawford has given the 21 year old the opportunity that he has been waiting on.

Achieving the first clean sheet in the league for the first time since March should have secure Cammy’s place for Saturday, he was naturally delighted with that success against Partick Thistle:-

“It was on the To Do List, to get the first one and the monkey off the back for me personally. As a team that is the first clean sheet that we have had in the league this season which for me is massive.

“Hopefully we can take that into the next couple of games and use that as an advantage because I thought we defended very very well as a team because as I said I had very very little to do and credit to the boys in from of me for that.

“Going into that game there was probably a wee bit of pressure on us given where both teams were in the league. You don’t really want to find yourself four adrift. It was a big win under a bit of pressure as well. For a young team to cope under that sort of pressure shows a lot about the boys.”

Quite possibly both sides were more nervous than normal on Saturday but Cammy felt that it was Partick who suffered most in that respect:-

“They were a bit on edge as well after the tough week they had with Gary Caldwell losing his job. You never really know what to expect when a team hasn’t got a manager going into the game.

“A lot of those boys have big points to prove. Ian McCall has come in now but they didn’t know that at the time. It was a tough one to predict but I thought we did really well.”

Cammy praised the Pars fans for their support which in the circumstances made it a lot easier for the team to go and push on to get the two goals in the first half. He admitted that he was relieved to see the first goal going in at the other end:-

“Scoring the first goal was a great feeling, a bit of relief to everyone. I wouldn’t say it takes the pressure off at the back, it probably creates more. You do not want to concede because when you score you know the three points are there.

“I thought as a team we were different class defending. I think I had one shot to save in the whole game.

“Even the week before Inverness did not have a lot of shots so the boys have made it really easy for me to come and step in. For that I am very grateful.

“Looking at the next couple of fixtures we want to go on a run. They are winnable games that we have got coming up and if we perform like we did on Saturday then there is no reason why we can’t go on a wee run.”

Cammy dearly wishes to be part of that run and prove that his decision was right to sign for the 2019-2020 season:-

“I was definitely in two minds. I obviously wanted to be at Dunfermline first and foremost, but at the age I am at as well, it is about getting that step into the first team and get men’s football.

“At the time I wasn’t really getting that. I had played one game which was the last game in the league last season. It was a career choice, I feel personally that I am at that age where I need to start playing.

“I look at the other goalies in our league - Jamie Sneddon at Partick, he never played on Saturday but he has played a number of games in the league, Ross Doohan and Robby McCrorie. These are guys of similar ages to myself.

“I feel that I definitely needed to play games. It was a call where I needed to think of the best scenario for myself. Now I can say that it is 100 per cent worth it. The manager has stuck by what he said and I am very happy for that.

“The Championship is a really good level for me to be playing at and to be playing at a club like Dunfermline at the age of 21, if you had asked me that when I first signed I would have bitten your hand off.

“I am just taking it game by game. We will see where that goes but it is just trying to keep my place at the moment, it is not going to be an easy job.”

Alloa are the next opponents and Cammy wants to do better than in the Tunnock’s Caramel Wafer Cup when Peter Grant’s team knocked the Pars out with a 2-1 score line.

“Obviously they came to East End a couple of weeks ago and they got the win so we will be trying everything we can to get the three points on Saturday.

“It is a really big game for us in terms of trying to go on a run. It is not going to be an easy game at all. We know that, we know how Alloa play, we have been looking at their videos.

“It is going to be a hard game and they have been a bogey team in the past but the boys are well aware of that. We know how they play and we know if we play how we can do, then we have every chance of getting the full three points there.”