First return for ex Saint
Saturday, 13th Aug 2011"It will be strange running out the tunnel and going the opposite way but that's part and parcel of football and come Saturday then I will be giving my all for Dunfermline."
Martin Hardie feels that there was a lot of expectation heaped upon the side in the opening game against St Mirren. With that first game back in the SPL being live on Sky followed by a six goal thriller against Inverness, hitting the road up to Perth for the first SPL away game is something of a change.
"Whether we change our shape or not is entirely up to the Manager but it is going to be different because the majority of the game might be against us but I am sure when we get the ball down and play we can create enough chances to see us score.
Saturday will be Martin's first steps back inside McDiarmid Park since he was released but he still keeps in touch with their kit man Tommy Campbell and is looking forward to the return.
"When I came back from by cruciate re-hab, almost exactly a year ago, I started training with the first team again and enjoyed getting back on the training ground. I knew that I wasn't going to get into any squad quickly so I decided to go out on loan to Partick. In turn that resulted in a slight crack in my knee cap while playing for them that caused me being released by St Johnstone. That's the nature of the beast but the only disappointing thing for me was that I never managed to play for them again.
"It will be strange running out the tunnel and going the opposite way but that's part and parcel of football and come Saturday then I will be giving my all for Dunfermline."
Martin shared the midfield role at McDiarmid Park alongside Derek McInnes before the manager's position was given to him but the Pars man is a great admirer of McInnes' contribution as a player:-
"We are two totally different players. Derek was a terrific player and as soon as he came to St Johnstone I picked up a lot of things from him. When he went on into management he changed my game a bit and for the better. I am due credit to him for doing that.
"He will have St Johnstone well drilled as he always has done. He had us watched last Saturday and he will have a dossier on us. They make sure that no stone is left unturned when they go to play the opposition."
The dossier will of course have a description of Martin Hardie's equaliser from a free kick after 89 minutes and 50 seconds against Terry Butcher's Caley Thistle. An equaliser that Martin and his team mates feel should have been unnecessary since the game should have been well won by that stage :-
"The Manager had pushed me forward. Alex Keddie had the ball and I could feel the defender tight against me. I played for the free kick to be perfectly honest. If I had managed to get a flick on then it would have been a gamble after that. As I put it down (for the free kick) I thought 'I'll give this a right good crack'. That's just what I did but it is disappointing that it takes a goal like that to rescue a point."
Opponents will now be wary of Hardie free kicks especially when his intention is to hit the target every time:-
"I always maintain when I am taking free kicks that I hit the target. I don't try and put so much power on it that it is going to fly over the bar - you are not going to get anything from that. I like to make the keeper save it and even then there's the chance that he will spill it for somebody to tap in.
Martin played at St Johnstone with Paul Sheerin who scored eleven penalties one season. Sheerin never missed and expectations were high as soon as the referee pointed to the spot. Now a Hardie free kick comes with great expectations.
"That was a special one though from 32 or 33 yards; I was going to go for the opposite side but it looked like the goalkeeper was going to change his angle going by the way he was sprinting across his goal. Once you hit these balls, especially the Mitre balls compared to last year's Irn Bru balls, the Mitre balls are lighter and they do move a lot.
"I fancied it but at first when I placed it I realised 'this is further than I have hit before'. It did give me the benefit of putting a lot more power into it and that took it past the goalkeeper and into the net."
The free kick specialist has only recently taken up the role:-
"It was only at St Johnstone that I took up hitting them. It was against Dunfermilne at East End Park when I had my first success and from then on if we got a chance I wanted to hit the free kicks. Before that Jason Scotland was taking them; he absolutely melted them and he scored from the majority that he took. When he left there was a void for me and Liam Craig. I scored two in four weeks for St Johnstone."
One of the most remarkable successes that Martin recalls fondly is pleading to go on as sub after Kenny Deuchars had won a free kick against Dundee United:-
"I put the ball down and luckily enough put it in the back of the net with my first touch."
The trip to McDiarmid Park needs to yield points stressed Martin:-
"The fixtures have been kind to us at the start of the season and it is imperative that we get points on board quickly because there will come a run of fixtures where we will come up against some formidable sides. No disrespect to any of our players but they are better than us and have been playing Premier League football for the majority of their careers so it will be hard in the Autumn when we are away for three and home for one and meet the likes of Rangers, Hearts, Dundee United etc."
At McDiarmid Park, Dunfermline fans will be accommodated in the North Stand at a cost of £21 for adults £11 for senior citizens and £10 for Under 18s.
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