Shut out gloss for full back Matt
Sunday, 27th Feb 2022“Considering I was out of position I felt I did well and to the best of my ability
When you are brought up in Dunfermline and been part of the Pars youth set up from the age of ten, it is without a doubt that you will play anywhere for Dunfermline Athletic. Matty Todd has made 34 appearances for his hometown club but never before had he been asked to play at right back.
The 20 year old midfielder stepped in after the plan to replace the suspended Aaron Comrie with Leon Jones fell through when the latter tested positive for covid. It had been a late call up however as Matty outlined after the 0-0 draw against title contenders, Kilmarnock on Saturday:-
“The gaffer mentioned on Friday afternoon about the possibility of playing me there. I found out at half one on Saturday afternoon that I was playing right back so I just went out to try my hardest. It was not my most familiar position but I thought I did my best and that’s all I can give.”
Previous experience in this position is more accurately described as right wing back in some of his 13 appearances while on loan to Brechin City between October to December 2019. Matty described the task up against Fraser Murray who had been at Dunfermline last season on loan from Hibs:-
“I had never played right back before but considering I was out of position I felt I did well and to the best of my ability. Fraz is a good player, he has a good right foot on him so it was just trying to show him down the line on to his left. Thankfully I kept him as quiet as he can be.
“It is disappointing that we have not come away with three points. In the first half probably we were a bit backs to the wall and defending but in the second half we have come out and started on the front foot.
“The manager actually changed the formation at half time to get ourselves higher up the pitch. He just said try and get higher, try and get balls into the box, get wider. I felt it definitely made a change and we were much better in the second half.
“We have taken the game to Kilmarnock and we were unlucky to not come away with the three points after big Efe’s chance off the bar. It is a good point, we will work on that and get ready for next weekend.”
The draw meant that a point was gained on Ayr United but Queen of the South won and are just a point behind. Matty agreed that the league is tight but stuck with his manager’s belief that they can only focus on themselves:-
“It is all about us, you don’t normally look at the league table. But there are a load of teams down there who we have to play against and so many points up for grabs. We will just focus on ourselves and we will prepare now for Arbroath next weekend.”
Matty was delighted to be part of a back four that achieved a shut out for the fourth time in eight games and his different role ensured that for just the second time this season he played the full 90 minutes.
After completing 26 of the 36 league fixtures Dunfermline have 24 points with only Queen of the South with less. Pressure is ever present claimed Matty:-
“There is always going to be pressure, especially at a big club like us. People from the outside think that we should be up the top of the Championship. Unfortunately this season it is not meant to be. We will focus on ourselves and definitely work on what we have done against Kilmarnock and take it forward into the last ten games of the season.”
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