Size does matter for Josh

"We were delighted to get 4-0, to get the goal difference back up a little bit, and get ready for next weekend as well.

At five foot six inches tall, Josh Falkingham is the most unlikely scorer with a header but his opener against Dumbarton on Saturday follows on his similar sucess against Raith Rovers in September.

"That's my second header this season!  You take goals, no matter how they come, and obviously I'm not the tallest, but if they come to my head and I can finish them off I'm pleased.  Headers are just funny because of my size, people look and think 'how is he winning a header'.

"But it was a good ball in from Ryan Wallace and really, to be honest, if I got my head on it I felt that if I hit the target I shouldn't really miss.  Obviously the keeper's big and spread himself but I just managed to get it over him and I was just delighted to get the goal."

His initial thought was to check that he was not offside:-

"Natural instinct, straight away I spun round and looked at the linesman, because I was in so much space I didn't know whether I was maybe a yard offside. I was just delighted it went in and I managed to find the net, and it kick-started the day."

It had been a torrid start for the 22 year old Englishman after Sons centre back had unceremoniously dumped him into the billboards behind the goal in the early exchanges:-

"That's just part and parcel of it, I'm used to it" replied Josh.  "As long as I'm in the thick of things I'm not too bothered. I'm going to get that, but that's football."

This was a banker as far as the bookmakers were concerned and the Pars duly proved them right although Josh conceded it does not always work out as easy as the odds might have suggested and there was the added filip to Dumbarton with a new manager being appointed just ahead of the fixture:-

"You look at this game and the fans will look at it, top versus bottom, but it's never like that.  People will say it's a definite banker, but we knew that with a new manager in Ian Murray coming into Dumbarton it was always going to be difficult.

"Coming here, their players lift themselves, playing in front of a bigger crowd than what they're used to. We just knew we would have to start well and set the tempo right and fortunately that's what we did and we got the goal from myself.

"Maybe it took a little bit longer than we would have liked but we just had to keep calm, like the gaffer told us, and keep patient, keep the ball, keep passing the ball and the goals would come.  We were delighted to get 4-0, to get the goal difference back up a little bit, and get ready for next weekend as well."

Josh scored the first and then set up the second goal that the unlucky opposition centre back, Andy Graham directed into his own goal.  Stadium Announcer Dave Anderson does not have the best of vantage points to see what happens in front of goal but for him to credit Josh with it was stretching things quite a bit:--

"I heard the tannoy mention my name and I was getting a little bit of stick from the boys. If they want to give me it I'll take it, I'm not too fussed! I was getting a bit of stick for that, but I was just delighted to get the win eventually.

"I tried to cut it back to Kirky, because he was standing on his own, but the defender's got in the way trying to defend it and fortunately for us it managed to go in. Kirky did say it was definitely a yard over, so there were no questions about whether it was over the line or not."

It was a day when Dunfermline Athletic fans turned out in their numbers and donated over £4000 to the "Pars Alive" fundraising effort.  This did not go unnoticed by the players either:-

"The money situation will take care of itself but it was great for the fans even. The boys were saying there were 3,500 there, it's still good. The fans have been brilliant ever since I've come to the club and as long as we can fill it up even more and the support will come down, which I'm sure they will because it is a big club. It would be brilliant if we could get double that, even.

"The money situation will sort itself out but for us, as players, it's great to play in front of as many fans as possible and we're just delighted they came out on Saturday.  It's just business as usual, there's nothing we can do.  At the end of the day, nothing that we say is going to sort out any situation."

Speaking confidently that the tough financial problems at the Club will get resolved, Josh continued:-

"We've just got to win games, and that's what we will do. It's a good group of boys and you've seen that in the last couple of weeks.  It had been looming over us, people have been talking about it, but we've just been getting on with it.

"Obviously there was the shock result at Partick a couple of weeks ago but we've just been ready to bounce back and just get back to winning games. Goals is what we're all about. We started the season well and people were asking if we had maybe come off the rails a little bit with the surprise result at Partick.  But we're just glad to get back to winning games and getting back to the form of early on in the season."