From five lows to high fives
Friday, 21st Jan 2022“When the final whistle went last weekend, it was just like a relief to pick up a huge three points.
After conceding five times in your previous game there can be no better a response for a goalkeeper than to record a shut out in your next. That was the commendable achievement of Pars goalkeeper Owain Fôn Williams and he admitted it came as a great relief:-
“It put a stop to those five goals that went in and that were avoidable the previous week but it was a different kettle of fish against Morton. In terms of how you cope with their style of play, compared to how Hamilton play, was a different ball game. When you lose, and lose heavily as we did against Greenock Morton, it really gets to you. Naturally, it’s going to get to you.”
Scoring the goal and seeing the game out was a major thing for Dunfermline since they were up against a Hamilton side that had picked up form massively from the last time the sides met at New Douglas Park. Owain continued:-
“We were up against a decent side, a side who had been in better form than us because they had climbed the table but I think everyone would agree that when you win 1-0 you know you’ve been in a game and you’ve had to do your stuff on the defensive side of things, as a unit and as a team I mean, as much as going the other way.”
Owain showed a huge release of emotion at the final whistle to celebrate the win and what was his sixth shut out in 21 appearances this season.
“Realistically, being in goal, I watch a lot of the game. You’re not actually in the full thick of it - trying to win the ball or trying to score or whatever it is.
“In goal, you have to wait until play comes to you before you can actually get involved. So, when the final whistle went last weekend, it was just like a relief to pick up a huge three points. If that’s what it’s going to take between now and the end of the season, then that’s what it takes.
“That is everyone doing a shift, not just half a team. It has to be every single one, the 11 and the three that are coming on. They have to leave everything on the pitch and I think that was evident last Saturday.”
Owain made 47 appearances for John Hughes in season 2015-2016 while the pair were at Inverness Caledonian Thistle and he feels that the Dunfermline players are now grasping what the manager demands.
“The method and what he’s telling the lads to do, we are doing but these things don’t happen overnight. It takes weeks and months to get certain things right.
“I think the most important thing is you work your socks off. That is the least you can do, to apply yourself right and leave everything on the pitch that’s the very least that a professional footballer can do.
“Then, what he always asks us to do is to be brave on the ball, and get on the ball and pass it and move. It all sounds very easy for me to speak about it, but it takes a lot of courage to get on the ball and a hell of a lot of bravery to take the ball in different areas of the pitch.”
The 34 year old former Welsh internationalist is now seeking back to back shut outs for the first time since September. Those were against Hamilton Accies and Inverness Caley Thistle, could that be repeated?
“That’s what I’m hoping for against Inverness this weekend. Last weekend was the benchmark and that’s what we need to get to against Inverness and in the games between now and the end of the season.
“Against Hamilton we applied ourselves well and worked our socks off - and we moved the ball really well and took our opportunity. That was enough to win the game 1-0 - and I would take that for the rest of the season.
“In every game we go into now towards the end of the season, we’ve got to do everything we possibly can to get three points. That’s the mentality.
“If we do that, if we can work as a whole unit and really fight to the death, and create as many opportunities as we possibly can, then we’ll hopefully be okay.”
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