Greg Ross Post Livi
Monday, 17th Nov 2008After being out for more that a season, Pars 'Albanian' is happy to be back in the starting line up.
Greg Ross gets forward to shoot at goal v Livingston
Greg Ross was concerned that for a while there after Livingston scored their second goal it looked like the Fifers were not going to find the winning goal:-
"We just kept playing football the way the Manager wants us to play and believe in ourselves and the third goal finally came. It was a great goal I felt, a great ball through from Steven Bell and a great finish from Kirky.
"All our goals were good today but we lost two that could probably have been prevented. It was a wee bit of schoolboy defending, especially with the first one straight from a corner. Calum Woods was on the front post area but he said it went well over his head and just dropped in but we're just delighted to come away with three points. That's what matters because earlier in the season they came to us and got the three points so to get one back over on them was good."
Dunfermline came back after going a goal down but if that's going to happen it came at the right time in the fifth minute of the match:-
"It was early in the game so we didn't let that affect us. We just went out to play football, pass the ball about and just keep doing that. It was an early goal so there was plenty time left to score two or three goals for us."
The rapid Livi response just two minutes after Dunfermline took the lead on the hour could have knocked the stuffing out of the visitors' hopes. Greg explained the thoughts on the park:-
"The way the game was going I felt that after we got the second we could have gone on to get a third but it was just a long ball. It was a good bit of skill from the boy to cut it back across and they've got the goal but the way we were playing we believed we could go on and win the game."
Saturday was yet another away win and Dunfermline remain undefeated in the league since losing to a late strike at Firhill on the first day of the season:-
"There's character in the squad. We don't want to get beat. The last couple of weeks at home it's been been unfortunate, we played worse away to Airdrie and got three points there. The Manager wants us to try to score more goals at home. We've worked on that in training and today we got three.
"The Manager wants us to get the ball down and play football and I think it's easier for teams at home to do that because teams will sit in more when they're away. It's just the way it's fallen for us but hopefully we can improve on the home record."
Saturday's start against Livingston was just Greg's second of the season:-
"I was delighted. I played in the Partick game a good few weeks ago now due to injury but the Manager's gone with the team that's been playing and I can't argue with that. Calum's been playing really well at right back. Kevin Harper picked up a wee calf strain in training yesterday so we worked on Calum getting then ball and driving inside like he did at Airdrie when he scored. I prefer to overlap so it worked well and I felt we played well together today, so we'll just have to see what happens next week but that's up to the Manager."
After playing only one league match last season, Greg missed pre season recovering from an operation on his knee. He went on loan to Cowdenbeath as part of his rehabilitation and he acknowledges the importance of that assistance from local Division Three neighbours:-
"I didn't really play as much as I wanted there it was good to get back involved in a first team. I wasn't really going to be involved here at first so I got a couple of games there and got back into the swing of things so that helped a lot. Obviously I would have liked more games, but I came back here and I've just got to try to put pressure on the boys who have been playing.
"The Manager left me out after the Partick game but he said I was still in his plans so I've just got to keep working hard. I got my reward today by getting back in."
The Scotland U20 internationalist has felt like a forgotten man at times. A few ago the Airdrie United programme described him as Greg Roffe and claimed that he was an Albanian. Greg denied any links to Albanian grandparents and George Burley need not worry should Greg play his way back into international form:-
"There's been a bit of banter about that in the dressing room. I don't know where that one came from. It was interesting. I suspect somebody at the club stitched me up but I'll try to find out who it is."
Greg now hopes that the win over Livingston, couple by the Perth rivals dropping two points at Broadwood will put pressure on Derek McInnes's side:-
"It might put pressure on them. We've just got to take each game as it comes and concentrate on ourselves. We're not interested in anybody else.
If we set out to win every game then I'm sure we'll be there or thereabouts at the end of the season."
Views : 2,896