Josh wants East End to bounce into play offs

“I personally really want to make the play offs and hopefully be a part of something more than just a play off game.

It was so disappointing to miss out on the play offs two years ago while at Airdrie, that Josh Edwards had erased that season’s finale from his memory. Reminded how the Lanarkshire club had missed out on a play off spot by three points in 2018-2019 due to losing in mid April at home to Stenhousemuir and then away to Montrose, Josh was sparked into remembering the horror:-

“That brings back memories that I don’t really want to remember. That was a terrible day against Stenny, hopefully there is not a repeat of that performance because I was terrible that day.”

Last season Josh was denied the chance to make the play offs when Dunfermline’s Championship season was halted due to covid restrictions but he is desperately keen to be involved this time around.

“I have never been a part of the play offs so I’d love to make it there. I know all the boys will be proper up for it, a few of the boys have been there and know what it is like. I personally really want to make the play offs and hopefully be a part of something more than just a play off game.

“Anything can happen, it would depend who we play. In the games that we have had against Dundee we have dominated for 45 minutes, they have dominated for 45 minutes. The most recent game was a bit of a stalemate.

“If we get to meet Raith, one game we have ripped them apart, one game they ripped us apart. It is generally all up in the air especially in play offs. Hopefully if we make it we can show a good account of ourselves and if we play to the top of our game who knows what can happen. We are definitely capable of beating both of them.”

Josh revealed that the squad have been bouncing this week after the win over Queen of the South at weekend and he hopes to take that buoyancy into the Arbroath game:-

“It was a good result, it was needed because it had been a while since we had won. Some would say that it was like a reward for us since we have been knocking at the door, we have been playing some decent stuff in parts and to eventually get a win was nice.

“To finally get three points was a weight lifted off our shoulders and good to get back to winning ways. Obviously had Queens beaten us they would have gone above us and it would pretty much have been the end of our season. It was a huge win and puts us right back in the play off hunt.”

A four game unbeaten run has given some momentum to the campaign and Josh felt that the team was getting into its stride again at the perfect time.

“The points that we have picked up in the draws that we have had could be the reason that we make the play offs. In the end they could be good points, we just have to wait and find out.”

For the second week running Dunfermline go into a match that many would term ‘must win’ if they are to make the play offs and Josh agreed that it is just the same as against Queen of the South:-

“We all knew going into that game that it was going to be tough, we had to win, we were expected to win. The boys had to deal with that and we went out and proved that we can. It was a good result all round for us.

“This week it is near enough the exact same circumstances that it was last Saturday. We are expected to win, we know that we need to win, we have to deal with those pressures and hopefully go out and beat a really hard to beat Arbroath side.

“Arbroath are always the same, hard to beat. We are going to have to play nice football to open them up, and create opportunities. They could quite easily hit us on the counterattack, they have beaten us in the past. We all know that it is going to be a tough game and we will have to be bang at it to beat them.”

The most recent result at Arbroath was a disappointing defeat on windswept day that spoiled the match but it was a loss that the Pars would like to make amends for.

“Every loss is a low moment. It doesn’t stick out as a particularly sore one, obviously we wanted to go up there and take all three points but we know that it is a hard place to go. We would have loved to have won, it was a hard one to take just because of the weather but that is not really an excuse because it was the same for both teams. They just maybe know how to play in it a bit better.

“At the end of the day they beat us 2-0, maybe in the back of our minds we want to take revenge on them. We beat them at home the last two times we have played them so hopefully that run continues and we beat them again this weekend.”

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