Craig checks out winner
Sunday, 6th Nov 2022“To be honest I will need to see the goal back because I actually thought Hammy had scored because he was going mad next to me.
Having scored four goals in the last six Dunfermline matches Craig Wighton has scored four of the last seven goals but his greatest satisfaction after heading in the winner at Falkirk on Saturday was the exemplary execution of the training ground rehearsal that created the opening. The 25 year old striker said that they had actually worked on that all week:-
“We are obviously delighted that it has paid off. It was always going to be one of those games where we set up to frustrate them and if we got a setpiece we knew that we would get chances with the way they set up.
“We worked on the shape defensively to frustrate them and I think their two centre halves had a lot of the ball but I think when they looked up there weren’t many options because we had closed the spaces well.
“I don’t think that we will set up like that much this season because we have a lot of the ball. We knew going to Falkirk, knowing the way McGlynn’s teams play, that it was going to be a tough afternoon. I thought the game plan was brilliant, we carried it out and we are all going up the road happy.
Craig’s 60th minute goal sparked off the celebration of all celebrations with the fans and such was the elation on the park, Craig began to think Chris Hamilton had put the ball past Falkirk keeper, Nicky Hogarth:-
“To be honest I will need to see the goal back because I actually thought Hammy had scored because he was going mad next to me. We had worked on them marking zonally so there was a big area at the back post and luckily it has paid off.
“It felt like the ball was in the air forever, it was just getting the right contact on it and thankfully I did. The fans were brilliant - the amount of them that came through - it is just good that we could send them home happy.”
In the context of the 36 match league campaign it is just another three points and Craig played down what the fans will clearly treat as a significant win:-
“I think that it is more outside noise for the fans - a derby, a big game. In terms of us it is three points and another run that we want to go on after the disappointment of the Montrose game. We want to go on another run and see how many games we can win.
“We have another hard game next week but we will keep trying to win games and hopefully come the end of the season we will have done enough. It is a good start but that’s all it is.”
On Saturday only Celtic versus Dundee United attracted a larger crowd so it was remarkable that a Scottish League One match should attract a crowd of 7279. Craig admitted that Dunfermline and Falkirk are two clubs who should be playing at a higher level:-
“There is no doubt about that. It was a bit strange, I don’t think this fixture should be in League One but it is. It was a good atmosphere, a good turnout from both sets of fans and it is good that they are still coming out in the numbers that they are.”
Attendances do not determine league places and Craig conceded that both clubs are where they are on merit, or rather the lack of it:-
“We have not been good enough at both clubs for whatever reasons. We can only do what we are doing right now. The aim is to be challenging up the top end of the league, to hopefully gain promotion. Like I say, we have started well but there is a long way to go, it is a long season so we will just keep our feet on the ground.”
Being re-united with James McPake has been massive for Craig because he knows that he has a manager who believes in him. It has proved to be good for both player and club and if he can keep himself in the team and keep scoring goals everyone will be happy.
Craig’s goalscoring record suggests that he has recovered from the knee injury that troubled him earlier in the season but he did begin to feel the physicality of the derby:-
“I was struggling at the end a little bit. I think the manager noticed that so I came off. Obviously we had big Toddy on the bench who will come on and do a job. Now we have good depth in the squad and we have McCann and Kev (O’Hara) to come back. We have got Paul Allan back too so there are good options, I think that we are in a good place.”
Craig Wighton also spoke to Jordan Burt for PARStv
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