Paul pressing for points
Friday, 6th Aug 2021“We were really disappointed as a squad because we didn’t play particularly well.
Paul Watson is predicting Partick Thistle will be a lot more difficult opponents than last time around at Firhill in the opening match of the Premier Sports Cup:-
“They will fancy their chances, as will we, and it should be a good game. We played them in the cup but I see they have added a few more bodies since then and they changed shape at the weekend. So, we can’t go into the weekend just thinking it will be an easy one.”
Paul is expecting to come against a partner from last year in Rangers on loan centre back Lewis Mayo who has recently gone on loan to Thistle:-
“Fair play to him for going out and getting more experience. He is another good, young player and it’ll be good to catch up on Saturday.”
Paul claimed that he and the rest of the squad will be out to make up for only taking one point from the Morton match last Saturday although he added:-
“Not many teams will leave Cappielow and be disappointed with only a point. It shows the ambition of the group that they want to win every game that they go into. Hopefully we can do that against Partick on Saturday.”
Dunfermline always find it a tough fixture and the surface wasn’t great. It was dry and the team were sluggish and sloppy while Gus Macpherson and Morton made it hard:-
“We were really disappointed as a squad because we didn’t play particularly well. We were better in the second half but the overall feeling is disappointment not to be coming away with three points.”
Paul has enjoyed the season so far under the new manager and he claimed that it had been great:-
“We’ve only been working together for a short period of time and we have come a long way from the early games in pre-season to now. It’s exciting to think where we will be over the next couple of months. It’s a young group we have and, credit to them, they have done very well in applying themselves perfectly.”
Peter Grant has explicitly set winning the league as the target and Paul Watson, pulling on his experience of being runaway winners of the Championship with Dundee United in 2019-2020, places consistency as the most important thing.
“We are doing the right things day-in, day-out in training and when the league campaign starts, there might have been some nervous tension, so it’s about getting that out of the boys’ system and being positive.
“Teams will come in and make it difficult for us but we need to adapt to that different pressures, rise to the demands of the manager.
“We need to be tough to beat ourselves, not concede sloppy goals as a team and keep building the points total — if we do that, I’m sure we will be there of thereabouts come the end of the season.”
So far Paul has avoided being described as a veteran but his experience is very important to a young side:-
“I’ve only just turned 30 yet I’m the oldest by quite a bit in the backline! That’s a bit unusual but I’m genuinely loving it. All the young lads in there are eager to improve, progress and they are getting better and better with every game.”
One 20 year old delighted to be playing alongside Paul again is Ross Graham, on loan Dundee United. Paul has previously helped Ross through reserve games at United but for the last five Dunfermline matches, the two have been together again in the Fifers defence. Paul was full of praise for the hard working youngster:-
“Ross is still a young boy — but he was even younger when I was at Dundee United. He was a great lad, was always asking questions to the older, senior boys and eager to learn. He is starting to fill out, works really hard in the gym and he has been brilliant since coming into the club.
“Ross could have sat there and got one or two games, but he has chosen to get more real experience in the Championship — a full season under his belt at a testing level — and I’m sure he’ll go back and kick on again.
Above: Ross Graham in his Pars debut v Partick Thistle, 10th July 2021
“He has the exact attitude you want from a young player. We can only pass on the experiences that we have picked up over the years — but it’s up to young players to want to listen. Ross does.
“He stays behind every single day after training, puts in the work to get better and I am sure that he’ll go on to have a great career.”
For this Saturday’s match East End Park will have a crowd restricted to 2000 Pars fans who will certainly make a big difference to the solitude of last season. Paul said everyone was enjoying having supporters in. He closed:-
“Hopefully we can keep getting bigger numbers week by week. That helps us massively and it’s our job to keep entertaining them with the style of play and scoring goals.”
Paul Watson speaking to Pars TV’s Jordan Burt
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