Lawless lots to make up for

SL:- “Hopefully I can score a couple of shanks just to make up for that goal.”

Mention the name Steven Lawless and most Dunfermline Athletic fans will immediately remember a 3-3 draw away to Partick Thistle in April 2013.

Steven has played five times against Dunfermline, every one in that fateful 2012-2013 season. He scored four times including one at East End Park in August of that season but it is his final goal in the penultimate match of the league season that most Pars fans will recall for all the wrong reasons.

Leading 3-1 at Firhill with 80 minutes on the clock it looked like the three points required to guarantee Championship survival were in the bag. Chris Erskine got a goal back with six minutes remaining but with 49 minutes and 15 seconds of the second half played Steven Lawless sunk an equaliser in the Fifers net. After losing to an already relegated Airdrie United in the final match, the play offs followed and from there the Pars were dispatched into three seasons in League One.

In his first interview as a Pars player he smiled and said that he expected that was going to be brought up:-

“I have a fair bit of making up to do haven’t I? It is a good time for me to come to the club and hopefully in the next six months I can make up for that! I scored that goal with my right foot and it was a shank as well so that makes it even worse. Hopefully I can score a couple of shanks just to make up for that goal.”

Since leaving Motherwell in October, Steven Lawless has been training with Livingston and while taking part in a bounce game against Dunfermline the 30 year old scored and made an impression on the already interested John Hughes. The new signing told the website that his move has been probably a month in the making:-

“The gaffer had been in contact with me, we have spoken a few times, we have exchanged a few text messages and at that bounce game when I was in training at Livingston. It has been going on a while but in my situation I couldn’t play until the next window opens.”

John Hughes is on record saying that a winger was top of his wish list and for Steven that was a big part in choosing to come to Dunfermline:-

“The last year and a half hasn’t really gone to plan for me to be honest through various reasons. I am looking forward to hopefully getting a run of games in my actual position and showing again what I can do when I get the chance to play there. I feel that I have been under-utilised in the last year and a half probably.”

That inability to get a game in his favoured left wing position has been a source of frustration for the player who is a product of the Motherwell youth system:-

“People have different opinions but I have played more games centre mid than I have on the wing in the last year and a half. That has been frustrating because it has never been my game playing centre mid. I have played years and years on the wing and I feel that is where you are going to get the best out of me.

“I am looking forward to getting a run of games that was a massive part of me signing, speaking to the manager I know the way he wants to play. I played against his Inverness team and I think it will be a good experience and hopefully I can get back to enjoying football again. That style of play does that for certain players and hopefully it can be a good marriage.”

Hughes tried to sign Lawless years ago when he was manager at Inverness and despite an admiration for the manager’s preferred style of play that move never happened:-

“I played against his Inverness team that many times and the style of play has always been a massive thing. If you ask a lot of players in Scotland, they will say that is the thing that stands out most for them about his teams. He gets them playing great football and hopefully I can play my part in that as well to have a successful end to the season and then take it from there.”

Being a free agent for two and a half months was something that Steven always knew was going to be tough but he was delighted that he was allowed to train at a club he played for in seasons 2018-2019 and 2019-2020:-

“I knew that I couldn’t play until the window opened again. That was something that I was going to deal with. It is hard but probably harder being there when I could play and not getting the chance to be honest. That was more difficult than not playing because I went into Livingston and they were good enough to let me train there.

“Obviously I knew the surroundings and the management so I was training there every day just to keep on top of things so that I was ready to go when the time came. I knew that the training was going to be tough there so that was a situation that I was prepared to accept to get away from Motherwell.”

Steven had not trained with Dunfermline before his first visit on Monday when he came to do his medical and some fitness tests. A few of his new team mates are familiar to him but he doesn’t think he has actually played alongside any of them.

“I know a few boys from youth teams and playing competitive games against them over the years. Hopefully we can work well together and get results between now and the end of the season.”

Joining the team lying ninth in the Championship Steven is optimistic that fortunes can be better in the second half of the season:-

“I am not going to lie and tell you that I have seen any of the games because I have not. I have kept up with results since I became aware of the interest. I just think that it is a case of getting under the manager and working.

“He has said that he needs to get a few players in so it will be interesting to see how that goes. The quicker we can get together on the training park, work on this style of play and get everyone gelling that way I’m sure that we will do well. It is just a case of hard work in training, not feel the pressure, quickly picking up results and playing with a bit of freedom.”

The experience gained in 381 senior appearances for six different clubs was something that attracted the manager and Steven feels that he can make that felt with his presence at Dunfermline:-

“I have had years in the Premiership playing with teams fancied to be down that end of the table. I know that they got a wee bounce when the manager first came in so hopefully we can pick up points to breed a bit of confidence. Once we get that then I’m sure the style of play that we are looking to play will come to the forefront.”

Steven claimed that he was a better player now than he was back in 2012-2013 when he was 22 years of age:-

“When you are that age everything is a little bit raw. You are still trying to get a wee bit more composure and I think I have got that in my game now. I don’t let things get to me too much and I’m going to try more things rather than just playing it safe.

“What happened to me personally when I got a little bit older, I am just going to try and make an impact in every single game. I am not always going to keep the ball because I am going to risk losing the ball trying to create things.

“That’s probably been the biggest change for me that I have noticed over the years, I am not scared of losing the ball. Maybe fans will get on your back a bit about that, that is up to them obviously, but that is my game. I am going to play risk/ reward game to my style of play. It has worked well when I have had a chance to play in that position, so hopefully I can do again in the next six months and get the goals and assists to help the team get up that table.”

The first possibility of seeing Lawless as a Pars player will be the New Year derby at Stark’s Park and the new man clams to have kept himself fit and ready to go as soon as he is allowed:-

“I asked to go into Livingston so that I would be fit to play come the start of January. I wanted to be ready to go rather than trying to play catch up for a couple of weeks. I have had a few weeks where I have not played any games so I went in there and I was doing extra. Their training was quite tough so that was the main reason I asked them to let me go in there. I wanted to be ready to go as soon as I was available.

“The first game that I’m available for just happens to be a big one so I’m looking forward to that even more. Hopefully it can get off to a good start and all the work that I have put in over the last two or three months will stand me in good stead.”

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