Every game’s a derby

Nikolay Todorov believes that you need to approach every game as a derby

A goal from the Pars top goalscorer, Nikolay Todorov midway through the first half of Saturday’s Fife derby against Kelty Hearts was the perfect antidote for any lingering depression following defeat at Montrose. The 26 year old told the website:-

“Before the last game we had gone on an unbeaten run and after losing last week, it was good to see how we bounced back from that. We worked really hard during the week and we are delighted with the three points but they are just another three points leading up to next week.”

A pleasing factor from the match was the successful partnership developing with fellow striker Craig Wighton. It was from his partner’s cut back that Nikolay scored and he continued:-

“It is always nice when the two strikers score and he sets me up for the first one and the second one was a great team goal. The pass from Mochrie and then Aaron squaring it for Wighty for a great goal. It is always nice to score and it ends up to be the winning goal.”

Nikolay has played in every Dunfermline league match this season and the 26 year old has scored five of their 19 league goals. If you add in two more in the Premier Sports Cup that takes the total so far to seven but he was unaware, almost unconcerned what his tally was:-

“I don’t know which number it is for me but the most important thing is for the team to win. We got that and we move on.”

With Darren Lyon hitting back for Kelty Hearts the scoreline stood at 1-1 at half time, Nikolay felt that his team didn’t start great in the first half so he acknowledged that there had to be a few changes for the second half. Chris Hamilton came on in place of Rhys Breen:-

“Breeny picked up a slight knock or something, I don’t know, I’m not sure. We knew that we had to pick it up to win the game so I think we did well. The manager came in and said that we need to start the second half bright if we want to win the game. I think we looked better in the second half and we did our job.

“Every week, every game is tough in this league. I have played in this league before and every game is tough whether it is home or away. There are tough grounds to go to but you know, credit to all the boys and all the coaching staff, everyone has done their jobs on Saturday. We were fighting and we managed to get the three points, that is most important.”

Nikolay received a yellow card in 63rd minute when Jordan Forster appeared to block him. He related how he saw the incident and the card that possibly contributed to his substitution with twenty minutes remaining.

“He pulled my shirt and I think that they probably targeted me to try and get me booked because obviously they couldn’t deal with us up top. I don’t know what has happened there but in my opinion if I am getting booked he should be getting booked as well because he was pulling my shirt. It doesn’t matter, as long as we have the three points we can move on.”

Dunfermline take the road to Falkirk for next Saturday’s fixture, a club that Nikolay made seven appearances for between January and April 2019 including one against Dunfermline at East End Park. Falkirk’s 3-1 win away to Queen of the South means the Bairns sit four points behind the Fifers but the Bulgarian striker claimed that all the focus would be on themselves:-

“We will look for their weaknesses and their strengths through the week. For now we just need to rest and recover and see what happens next week.”

As the Kincardine Bridge derby follows the Fife derby Nikolay believes that you need to approach every game as a derby, he added “they are important games especially here at home when teams just come and sit in. It is very hard to break them so we were delighted to score two on Saturday.

“The boys defending was great at the end and Deniz (Mehmet) pulled off a few good saves. They did their jobs. It is important to win every single game and it feels like a derby every single time for us.”

Above: Spot Nikolay (8) in a Dunfermline v Falkirk derby

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