Thomson's Tynecastle first

Ryan Thomson says early goal could be key to victory

Ryan Thomson is looking forward to his first professional trip to Tynecastle on Saturday:-

"I've never played there before so I'm looking forward to it.Hearts are a good side and they've just given Celtic a hard time, so it will be difficult. But we've had good games against the Old Firm recently and we've got a wee point to prove to ourselves and hopefully we'll get the win."

The 20 year old midfielder has his own theories on why Dunfermline haven't got more points from the games they've played so far this season:-

"We've just came into the division and we're still getting used to it and the new teams we're playing.We do feel like we're playing good football but we're still making a few mistakes.If we can correct that we'll start to get more victories."

Ryan claims that the team's recently experience at Hibs shows that an early goal could be key to a victory on Saturday

"Every time you go to an away stadium and get an early goal it puts the home fans on edge and if they're on edge, they're not always helping their team.An early goal is a massive help in this league as we saw at Hibs, recently but it's not always that easy!"

Dunfermline 's recent improvement in form has still got one key issue;the team don't seem to start the first half of matches as well as the second.Ryan says, "It's as annoying for us as it is for the fans and we're still trying to work out why its happening.It's denting our chances of winning games and means we go out in the second half knowing we've got a mountain to climb.We need to correct that and start playing better faster."

Ryan says Hearts will be under a little more pressure than Dunfermline ahead of the game, although both sets of players will be out to take all three points:-

"Hearts are a big club and they're expected to be in the top six every year so maybe they've got a bit more pressure on them that we have.We're just hoping for a clean sheet and at least one goal."

Ryan in action v Hearts at East End Park