Talking for the defence
Wednesday, 27th Oct 2021“We have gone back to basics in terms of being a unit as a back four. I’ve come in and have been quite vocal.
On loan United player Mark Connolly claims that he has watched the Dunfermline team unite in their endeavours to record their first league win of the season. In his four weeks at the club he has witnessed a transformation in communication, desire and determination, he gave his thoughts:-
“When I first came here, people were talking about the team being bottom of the league and you maybe wonder ‘what is the team like?’
“But there is real quality in the dressing room and I’ve seen a huge change in mentality, work rate. We just need to get that win.
“We have gone back to basics in terms of being a unit as a back-four. I’ve come in and have been quite vocal. I talk and Vtyas [Gaspuitis] beside me is coming out of his shell and talking and the full-backs are talking.
“We are gelling as a unit and cutting out the silly mistakes. It seemed like in a lot of games this season, we weren’t giving ourselves a chance — one, two or three-nil down in games before you have a chance to get into them. Now we are giving ourselves a chance.”
The 29 year old central defender has a vast amount of experience from playing at Crawley Town, Kilmarnock and Dundee United and feels that it would be different if he had come in and was playing in games where he was thinking ‘we should have got beat there’, but that isn’t the feeling:-
“I don’t think we are far off getting wins. We have played Kilmarnock, one of the favourites in the league, and we could have beaten them. Raith, on Tuesday, will be up there and we should have beat them.”
The 6’1” defender claimed it was a game Dunfermline should have won after opening the scoring through Dom Thomas just five minutes into the second half:-
“Raith are a good team and play good football — they are set up well and their manager has them doing well — but we should have been seeing that out.
“The confidence is clearly a wee bit low because we haven’t won that game and we dropped deeper and deeper. When it falls on the edge of the box for their player (Brad Spencer) we need to be more aggressive and block the shot.
“It was a gutsy, gutsy draw but we’ve had a few of those and we need to turn them into wins. We are not far off it but there are only so many times we can keep speaking about it. We need that win and, as players, we need to stand up and be counted. And the players are doing that.
“I think people can see that we aren’t far away and, once we get that, it can change the mentality. There are such fine margins. I’ve been in this league before with Dundee United and there were times when we weren’t playing well but found a way to grind out results.”
Mark is well aware that the Championship is not any easier this season but there is a real need to get that win and get the monkey off their backs. He admitted that even when winning the title with
Dundee United there were games where they went off the park wondering how they had taken three points from certain matches:-
“I remember we went through a phase where we were struggled to win games. We kept picking up points, we didn’t lose many, and eventually that momentum becomes wins.
“There is no magic wand. It’s not ‘if you start passing this way, or doing this, you’ll immediately win’ — it is pure hard work, determination and wanting to win more than the opposition, especially in this league.
“I remember after winning the league, sitting in the dressing room with Dundee United and all the boys were thinking what a tough slog it had been.”
After five games for the Pars, Mark’s record is four draws and one narrow defeat at Dumfries. Battling though it has been fighting for Peter Grant’s team, Mark knew when he was coming to East End Park that it would be a tough challenge but, after being out for such a long time, he says that he is relishing it.
“It’s a brilliant group of boys and I am just desperate to get that win, not even just for myself. I’ve been around and I’ve played in a lot of football matches, but I can see how much those young lads in our dressing room want to win.
“That will hopefully get the confidence up and we can kick on up the league because this is a good team with good players. It’s been said many times I know, but I’m desperate to prove it with a victory and we can kick on up the table.”
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