One Direction for Joe Chalmers
Friday, 3rd Feb 2023“Everybody gets on, everybody wants to get better and pull in the one direction. I feel as if everybody at the club is pulling in the one direction.
Joe Chalmers has said that he is just delighted to have agreed a new contract that will keep him at Dunfermline Athletic until the end of the 2024-2025 season. He talked to the media about his news:-
“I`m really enjoying being here and have done from the minute I came in. I look forward to getting out of my bed and coming in every morning. It`s a good place to be, it`s a good group of boys, and a manager I`m really enjoying working under. When I got the chance to extend it, I didn`t need to think much about it, and it was tied up pretty quickly, so I`m delighted.”
Joe has featured in every Pars game this season, starting 26 out of the 30 and he has been pleased to get that run of games. He feels that has brought consistency to his game and that has helped him to enjoy everything about being at the club.
Naturally this season has been a contrast to last season but he has no regrets for leaving Ayr United in January last year:-
“When I came in last season, it wasn`t the best of times but, I`ve said before, I still was really happy with the decision I made to come here, just with the club, the facilities and everything we`ve got. Even though it didn`t work out well, I was still glad that I came, was still enjoying being at Dunfermline and playing last season but obviously the results didn`t match.”
It was John Hughes who signed Joe for Dunfermline but the 29 year old midfielder has played a large part in the team’s revival under James McPake and Dave Mackay. He continued:-
“Obviously the main thing is on the park but off the park, it`s as good a group of boys I`ve been involved in. Everybody gets on, everybody wants to get better and pull in the one direction. I feel as if everybody at the club is pulling in the one direction. That`s what`s made a big difference to things on the park, but I think that togetherness off the park has helped on it.”
Dunfermline have won 18 and drawn nine of their 30 matches and they have shown resilience to grind out results with seven of those wins being by just a one goal margin. Joe feels that it is a mindset:-
“Obviously it comes from the manager, we`re a fit group, we cover a lot of ground in games and by running, and we never give up. Even when we`re not at our best, we keep fighting, and I think that`s gained us quite a lot of points this season. At the end of the season, you never know, those points could be the difference.”
Looking ahead to Saturday’s League One match at home to Montrose, Joe is hoping that momentum can be regained in just the second home game since the beginning of December:-
“We were disappointed with the result against Clyde, and probably moreso the performance as well. We didn`t quite show what we have been showing in most of the other games, but it was off the back of a tough week. We just weren`t quite at it and, in this league, if you`re just off it a wee bit - it doesn`t matter who you`re playing - it`s hard to get results.
“Overall, when we haven`t been at our best, we`ve still managed to pick up points, which is a positive thing. We`re not losing the games. We could easily have lost that game on Saturday but we always seem to get something out of the game, just by hanging in there, or doing something where we stick in there and keep fighting to the end. At least we`re picking something up when we`re not at our best.”
Montrose are the only opponents to have defeated Dunfermline in League One this season and that is foremost in Joe’s thoughts recalling two tricky matches against Stewart Petrie’s team:-
“They`re the only team that`s beaten us, and that was a really tough game. Even though we`re going back to quite early on in the season, I think we scored quite late to win the home game. The two times we`ve played them, they`ve been well-organised and quite a physical team. I would expect nothing more from them again and it will be difficult.”
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