Kev Climbs Every Mountain

Kevin Rutkiewicz is no guitar man as Pars tune up in the Alps for SPL challenge.

Kevin Rutkiewicz explained a benefit of the trip Austria will allow the players to be away from their families and the tasks that footballers do as part of a normal life away from the game.

"To be away for five days we have time to sit after training and spend a bit of time. On the training field there is no rush, we can take our time and it is a great thing to get away together. People outside football might look at it as a football team away on a jolly but it certainly won't be that. It will be hard work. Big business companies do it - take their staff away into different environments for quality time working on projects; its similar in sport.  Of course the banter will be good, some jokes getting played but it will be all the usual suspects."

Kevin has not been to Austria before and even though it is Sound of Music country the wrist injury has put an end to any suggestion that his guitar will be going with the Pars songster.

"It might have made the jaunt had my hand been alright but my guitar will be aside for a month or so."

Good news however, is that Kevin's injury will not mean 'so long farewell" and he described his wrist as 'sore' and revealed that he has a micro fracture in his wrist after a first minute injury in the friendly at Brechin in midweek:-

"It is not going to stop me playing; it is going to be sore for a few weeks but its nothing sinister. I thought I had snapped it to begin with but a micro fracture, a little soft tissue damage and some bruising on the bone won't hinder. If I wasn't playing football I could have had a cast but the physio came up with strappings so everything is positive."

The injury was the only set back on Tuesday night as Kevin felt that the match was a good step forward in the team's preparations:-

"I got a good 90 minutes under the belt, the first for nearly two months. It was a marked improvement on the Livingston performance; less to be learned because we had chances to put the game to bed. We had three or four good chances, not half chances - gilt edged and regardless of your opposition if its 1-0 the longer the game goes on there's always a chance that something will happen.

"We gave away a soft goal, poor decision and its a penalty kick. This is about getting the legs right and head right and I feel that the mental approach was better on Tuesday night. We treated it like a competitive match and that's what we have to do to get that mental sharpness back."

SPL experience with St Johnstone will be handy for Kevin and the Dunfermline team but he feels that everybody the long journey back has been rewarded:-

"Since the manager got the job it has been three seasons. First of all it was a re-building process, players had to go because of the wages that they were on and then it was a real hard slog for everybody here. The only way to enjoy that is to be as successful as you can be. If you are sitting bottom of the league it is not going to be an enjoyable experience for anybody but to finish eleventh at the end of the season I will take right now. We'd still be involved next year in the Premier League. That will be our aim. Obviously we will have our own aims of what we think we can achieve but we will not speak too much about that."

Enjoying the SPL is what Dunfermline want but Kevin warned "the only enjoyment comes when you are winning games and picking up points. We are favourites to go down and that's another incentive to prove people wrong.

"Every time you pull on a jersey whatever club you are at, you always have something to prove. We have got to prove ourselves at the higher level but I think the boys will thrive on it. We have a good squad here but in the tougher times ahead hopefully that will galvanise us and bring us together."