Crosses can beat the noughts

Paul Willis:- "I just tried to put them into an area to try and pick out the right man, hoping that someone was going to gamble and get on the end of them."

Paul Willis echoed the thoughts of his manager Jim McIntyre when he reviewed Saturday's SPL match:-

"In the first half I thought the two teams were the exact same, there was nothing between us. When Motherwell got the goal they passed the ball about a bit more. They came into the game even more and when they got the second goal it killed the game off."

Paul felt he made a good contribution after replacing Joe Cardle at the start of the second half but was disappointed that the game passed with yet again no points gained:-

"I put quite a few crosses into the box. I just tried to put them into an area to try and pick out the right man, hoping that someone was going to gamble and get on the end of them."

Certainly the quality of delivery that Paul produced from his many corners created Motherwell problems and he felt that it was just unfortunate that none of them ended up going in the net. The result did nothing to raise the spirits in the dressing room but the 20 year old confirmed the feelings in there:-

"The boys need to keep going and keep fighting. There is a big break until our next game but maybe that will allow a few players to come back and create competition for places."

No matter how good the team sprit remains it must have been very hard not to cast blame on goalkeeper Chris Smith for another error. Paul continued:-

"It was a big mistake at a vital stage in the game. Given where we are in the league it is an unfortunate mistake but we need to stick together and keep going."

For someone so young Paul has a very mature attitude and like footballers everywhere he just craves to be playing. He is just three short of 50 appearances for Dunfermline and is looking forward to completing that half century:-

"I am always hoping to get to start games. I came on at St Johnstone last week, obviously we got beat and the Manager went with Davie Graham again. I hope that I put enough crosses into the box to get a start."

Paul was on the bench for 11 of the first 12 SPL games. He was used five times before being handed his first SPL start in the game at Easter Road on 5th November. Seven more successive starts kept Willis on the team sheet but after the Celtic game on 2nd January it was back to the bench and Paul has started only one more match since - against Aberdeen on 30th January.

With eight SPL games remaining for the Pars, the midfielder is convinced that the relegation battle is not lost:-

"We need to keep going right to the end, there is no reason why we can't, we showed against a good Motherwell team that are flying, that there was nothing between the teams until the goal."