Rhys listening to experience on and off the pitch
Wednesday, 15th Dec 2021Rhys Breen talks about the influence of John Hughes and Mark Connolly
After joining from Orange County SC in late July Rhys Breen’s Dunfermline debut was delayed by injury and covid. The 21 year old centre back replaced Vytas Gašpuitis five minutes from the end of the home match against Kilmarnock in mid October and his starting debut came at Arbroath two weeks later.
Three starts in a row then came to a halt after an injury near the end of the win at Inverness and then another injury incurred in a bounce match against Hibs put him out for a little longer. After missing the matches against Ayr United, Partick Thistle and Hamilton, Rhys returned to the first team for the match against his former club, Queen of the South last Saturday. He was delighted to get his first start under John Hughes:-
“I’m glad to get in the squad and hopefully I can just maintain and keep my position. I think that it is good that I know myself that it wasn’t one of my best performances. It is a learning experience and all I can do is look back at the performance and just go again next week.
“A run of games is exactly what I am needing. Everybody needs that so that you are more fluid on the pitch and there is no rustiness in you.”
Acknowledging that there are other really good centre backs at the club, Rhys admitted he was surprised to go straight back into starting line up but felt it was clear reward for knuckling down and being properly prepared for when he is given his chance. Coupled with that Rhys is enjoying the influence and words of wisdom from his new manager:-
“He was a centre half so it is good to take tips off of him. He has been really good with me ever since he has come in. I didn’t know about him, I had never met him but he sat down and spoke to me and I am definitely learning a lot off him.
“I had never spoken to him before but on the first day we spoke for thirty or forty minutes. I was kind of shocked by that but he was just telling me about my position and how I should play my position. He has been really good with me and you can have a laugh from time to time with him.”
There was no laughing however after Saturday’s 3-3 draw, Rhys recognising that from a defensive point of view they can’t be losing three goals in a game.
“We will analyse it and see what we can do better but I feel that three goals in a game cannot really happen. Hopefully in the next game there will be more of a structure and more learning from the last game.”
Playing alongside Mark Connolly for just the second time Rhys knows that he can gain from the experience of someone who has been in the game a lot longer than him:-
“He is always very loud with me and again he takes time with me. He talks me through the games and although he has only come in here for a short period of time but you can see when he is on the pitch that he is a leader within the squad. I will bounce off that.
“It’s not just in games but also in training, he is just the kind of character the team needed, we needed that kind of leader and if he is doing it everybody should learn from that. It shouldn’t just be Mark who is doing it, it should be the full eleven, it should be the guys on the bench, it should be coming from everybody.”
Disappointed though he was to draw on Saturday, Rhys took pleasure from the performance of a fellow Rangers youth, Kai Kennedy:-
“Kai had struggled to get in the squad but we had the bounce game against Hibs and he got three goals. The talent that he has is scary. Not a lot of people have that kind of talent. I am happy for him to get the goal and then the two assists, I feel like he deserves it and hopefully he can keep himself in the squad.
“He has that kind of spark and there are only a handful of players that I have seen with that. It comes through in training, he is a hard working lad and I feel that is the mentality side that comes from Rangers. He has come here and shown a great attitude, it was hard for him to get into the squad but now that he is in the squad I feel that he can go ahead and do a lot more for us.”
Looking ahead to Saturday’s match against Kilmarnock, the first of four consecutive matches against the current top four in the Championship, Rhys added:-
“Killie are a really good side, I feel that we just need to focus on our game more than Killie. I feel like that has been some of our problems, focusing too much on the opposition. We have come back fresh and as long as we have a really good attitude and look back at the mistakes we made at the weekend, we could easily start to go on a run now.”
Confidence can be taken from the 2-2 draw against Tommy Wright’s team in the first meeting at East End Park and Rhys reckoned fortune hasn’t really shone on Dunfermline of late:-
“In certain areas of the game if you switch off for a second it can cost you. On Saturday it was just the slightest of errors that we made and if you do that in this league you will get penalised for it.
“As long as we have the right attitude and the right balance and structure to our squad, I feel that we will be fine this week.
“We have not had the best away results but there is a lot better structure, everybody knows what they are doing now within the squad. Everybody knows their roles, once we get a hold of that there will be no stopping us.”
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