Green light for Breen
Wednesday, 20th Oct 2021“I know that it will be a tough challenge this week but I have a good feeling that we will do well.
Since returning to Scotland from Orange County in California to sign for Dunfermline Rhys Breen has waited almost twelve weeks to make his Pars debut. Replacing Vytas Gašpuitis five minutes from the end of last Saturday’s match against Kilmarnock, the 21 year old described feeling ‘over the moon’. He said:-
“It was brilliant to get back on the park, it was only five or six minutes that I was on for but it goes a long way just with what I was going through - getting injured and then getting covid. I was as proud as punch with the five minutes and obviously getting a 2-2 draw out of it.”
The defender who came through the Rangers Academy, he has experience of the Scottish Championship while out on loan to Queen of the South and also played six matches for the Pars next opponents, Partick Thistle.
“I know the players at Partick well, I was there on loan and I know the manager really well. They have just come up into this league and they have to go and prove why they are in this league. They have started the league really well and every game that we play is going to be hard.
“There is not one game that we are going to play that is going to be easy. That is the league that we are in and the teams that we are up against. We know that it is going to be a tough challenge.”
Should Rhys play at Firhill that challenge could include coming up directly against one of his contemporaries in the youth academy, Zak Rudden, and several still there from his six match loan to the Jags from October to December 2020:-
“Zak was at Rangers and I do speak to a lot of the boys there still right to this day. They are all really nice lads and they have a really good work ethic.
“I will be giving Zak a message before the game just to keep an eye out for me. I am glad that Zak is doing well for himself but when it comes my personal performance, I have to make sure that he does not get near that goal.”
Rhys had been on the bench for Dunfermline’s opening two league games and the League Cup tie at Ibrox but his long wait to make his debut was as a result of injury and covid. He explained:-
“I was supposed to start a game, I can’t remember which one and I ended up getting injured and out for two weeks. Then the covid situation happened and I was out for a month with that because when my isolation ended my family getting it and so it was a really unfortunate time but we are all fit and healthy again.
“Luckily all my family had very minor symptoms- cough and fevers - but we kept well, did our bit and thankfully we are all safe. I’m back and I cannot wait to get started.
“It was one of the toughest periods that I have gone through in my career. I was bugging everybody in my house, I was wanting to go out running. The second I got out the house even for a simple jog or walk, I couldn’t stop smiling. I was just over the moon. I’m glad that I’m back into the way of things now.”
Working up his fitness has been a tough task with Rhys often forgetting what he had been through and questioning why he was unfit and not as strong as he was:-
“It was just that mental toughness. Once I jumped over that little barrier I was absolutely fine. I am nearly there. I wasn’t expecting this but it went in fast for me and now that I’m back with the boys, back doing what I love it feels like it didn’t even happen.”
Everyone wants to hit the ground running when they go to a new club but even when Rhys came back into training initially it didn’t feel like his touch was there. That returned, he has been training in the last four or five weeks now and is at a level where the manager had enough confidence in the defender’s fitness to have him on the bench.
Rhys was delighted to have been on the pitch for the late equaliser against Kilmarnock and he was responsible for supplying Josh Edwards with the ball for the cross that led to Aaron Comrie lashing it into the net. Could it be the turning point for team and Breen?
“We all thought that we should have won the game, we had so many chances and it was probably the best that we have played all season. The boys went until the last second of the game when that is hard to do sometimes mentally. I felt it was very really positive that we kept going.”
Being sidelined for two months Rhys has shared the frustration of results felt by the entire playing staff, he confirmed:-
“I think everyone was frustrated because we know how good we are as a team. We know what we can do, it is just the results haven’t turned out the way that we wanted. The attitude, the determination in the changing room and on the pitch, no one can doubt that.
“Every single person is pulling their weight, without a doubt that is definitely happening for the manager. Every player is trying to give him our trust and go out on to the pitch to do everything we can for him.
“We are getting back to what we should be doing. I know that it will be a tough challenge this week but I have a good feeling that we will do well.
“I like training but once you have three games in a couple of weeks, I love that even more. The next couple of weeks are vital for us to stay motivated, to make sure that we are doing the right things and it is vital for us not to take anything less than a win.”
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