Deniz ready to repay faith placed in him

“It was just a matter of getting over it, and it`s a completely different feel this season.”

Motivation to be Dunfermline number one is high claims Deniz Mehmet. . His squad number now indicates that and he intends to prove that he is worthy of it. He commented:-

“It`s nice to be given that from the gaffer and the coaching staff. I just need to repay that to them and make sure they`ve done the right thing!”

Having missed the friendly against Kilmarnock as a result of dislocating his finger in the warm up, Deniz is yet to concede a goal this season. He admits that he feels he has a point to prove but the main thing is good results week in, week out. Clean sheets will be an important factor and he suggested that he had not much to do in the matches he has featured in this season:-

“We’ve carried good results through from pre-season, and the boys have been really solid in front of me and giving minimal chances away.

“We are being a lot more solid overall the 90 minutes, and like the gaffer`s saying, be a horrible team to play against, which I don`t think we were last year. It was a bit passive and soft at times, whereas we seem quite a horrible team at the moment, and we need to keep that up.”

It`s pleasing watching the team scoring goals but for the Turkish born keeper clean sheets are what he wants out of games:-

“We didn`t manage to keep many of them last year as a group, but we`re getting them in now, so hopefully it`s a case of being better late than never!”

Performances and results so far have been good and Deniz revealed that there is a different feel to the club this pre-season when compared to last.

“We all know what happened last year, and how disappointing it was, but I feel the group that we`ve got at the moment has bounced back pretty well from it, so we just need to keep the performances going and keep the results coming our way.

“It`s a different feel when you come in to a pre-season after being relegated. It`s not a nice feeling, I`m not going to say dreading it, but it`s not the same excitement as it would be coming back having been promoted, or keeping yourselves in the league and having a good end to the season. It was a horrible end to the season but I think we`ve picked ourselves. Everyone`s in quite high spirits, and it`s showing on the pitch at the moment.”

Deniz made eight appearances for Dunfermline last season and did not get as as much game time as he had hoped for. He was philosophical about that:-

“These things happen in football. I definitely didn`t play as much as I would have liked to at all, but I`m responsible for that myself. It was tough to be honest, but I just wanted a little bit of a break away from it, and taken out the time, for myself and for the benefit of the team as well. It was just a matter of getting over it, and it`s a completely different feel this season.”

Alan Main has been appointed as Goalkeeping Coach and Deniz is delighted with the appointment:-

“Mainy`s been brilliant, and that`s a big thing for me. We didn`t have a goalkeeper coach last season, so it was me and Fonners. There was so much we could do - and I’m not saying anything bad about Fonners - but it was just limited sometimes.

“It`s good that the gaffer`s done that and brought Mainy in very early into pre-season because it`s something that we need. We`re a completely different specimen to the players, let`s say.
We need a specialist goalkeeper coach, and it`s just something that`s needed in every club.

“I`ve worked with some really good goalkeeper coaches. Neil Alexander, I knew from Dundee United, and when he came here, it was brilliant to have him again. It was my first time meeting him when Mainy came in, but it`s been really good. I`ve enjoyed working with him and I`m sure we`ll carry that on.”

Looking ahead to the Ross County match on Saturday, the Pars keeper acknowledged that it’s a game they have got to be up for.

“We know it`s going to be tough. It`s not going to be the same as it was on Tuesday night, playing up there against a Premiership side. They are going to have their home fans and be used to the surroundings more than us, but we`ve got to go up there and give it everything we`ve got.”