Decisions cost Dunfermline defeat

“On the pitch at the time, it is those decisions and split seconds where you have to make the right decisions - maybe it was the wrong one.

Last season Kevin O’Hara scored in three matches against Arbroath and on each occasion Dunfermline went on to win the game. So when Kevin scored not just once but twice within the first twelve minutes of Saturday’s match at Arbroath the omens were good and that is what he thought as well:-

“After I scored my second one, I thought we were in a comfortable position. I thought that we played really well for the first 25 minutes of the first half. After that we just dropped deeper and deeper and really stopped playing the way we did to get the two goals. That probably killed us in the end.”

The 23 year old striker signed by Stevie Crawford from Alloa Athletic in July 2020 had only scored one hattrick in senior football - against Peter Grant’s Alloa Athletic side on October last year - and he thought he might have notched another when a great opportunity led by his striking partner Nikolay Todorov, opened up in 33rd minute:-

“Toddy should probably have slid me in, I think he knows that. He had other ideas to go himself but on the pitch at the time, it is those decisions and split seconds where you have to make the right decisions and maybe it was the wrong one. These things happen.

“In the last couple of games it has been fine margins and some of the goals that we are conceding are really poor because they are not really goals where teams are opening us up. It is more setpieces or down to our mistakes. That is what hurts us the most.”

The travelling support and management could barely believe the turnaround with Arbroath hitting back with four goals in response to going two behind. Kevin was as baffled by the events that followed:-

“I cannot put my finger on it because I think if we keep playing the way we were we would win the game. We just dropped deeper and deeper, it was the same on Tuesday night as well. I don’t know how it happens maybe it is because we are in the lead, it is hard to put a finger on it.”

The dressing room was really quiet after the game disclosed Kevin:-

“The boys are really disappointed, it is a quiet place. We know that we need to be miles and miles better than what we are right now. We need to roll our sleeves up and dig in, work as hard as we can and hopefully we can all get that first win next Saturday.”

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