Joe is Wembley Bound

"It was the biggest game of the season for us and not to start was devastating for me when I heard the team announced.

Joe Cardle will be at Wembley this Saturday to cheer on Blackpool in the Championship Play Off Final against West Ham. He will travel south with mates from the town he was born in but they will all be hoping that the misfortune that plagued Joe and his Dunfermline team mates doesn't befall the Seasiders.

Speaking exclusively to the website Joe revealed how disappointed he was to be left out of the starting eleven at Easter Road:-

"It was the biggest game of the season for us and not to start was devastating for me when I heard the team announced. Of course I wanted to be playing and play my part in the game. You can say that now and think that you could maybe have changed the game. I came on at half time when the game was kind of finished at three nil down.

"It's just the way the season went. On Saturday against Kilmarnock we were comfortably winning the game 1-0 then I came off before they scored two goals in the last five minutes. That's what has happened throughout the season to us."

Joe was offered no explanation as to why he was overlooked for the big relegation decider:-

"Nothing was said. It wasn't the type of game where you could go and knock on the gaffer's door. He has made the decision and that was to go with Davie Graham instead of myself but that's just the way it goes. You just have to take it."

The defeat against Hibs sealed the Pars fate but relegation was something that was coming from numerous poor games before that one. Joe looked back:-

"Throughout the season there were so many chances where we could have been picking up at least one point in a game rather than coming away with nothing. Many times when we could have won games, we came away with draws. So many points were dropped throughout the season and that is what has killed us."

Mistakes and own goals crept into Dunfermline's game in sharp contrast to the previous season when they were winning games comfortably and not making mistakes:-

"Any mistake will cost you. It has been everyone throughout the team from front to back and that's what's happened but we need to push on now, think about next season and start afresh."

Joe Cardle picked up the 2011-12 Player of Year from
The Young Pars, The Centenary Club and the Supporters Club

Joe's aim was to play longer in the SPL and use that as a platform to go further. He commented:-

"Unfortunately that has not happened to me at Dunfermline" but his SPL career was also threatened with a recurring injury to his left knee that caused him to miss five successive starts in November:-.

"It is still niggling but it is tendonitis caused by overuse. If you are playing everyday and playing two games per week, it is going to come back. I will rest it during the summer period and hopefully it will go away."

Definitely coming back soon is First Division football. Joe has been there and didn't want to go back there but he has another year of his contract at East End Park.

"It is the hardest league that I have played in. I have enjoyed playing in the SPL but to get up there is going to be a hard task for us."

Back for 2012-13 in the new strip

The excitement generated by fixtures against Raith Rovers and Falkirk will be little compensation to the 24 year old however who has now made 109 appearances since joining from Airdrie United:-

"It is really enjoyable playing in front of full crowds and winning these games but I liked playing at the top level, in Scotland that is the SPL and I am devastated not to be playing in that next season. It hasn't sunk in yet that I am not going to be doing that. I will rest up, take it easy for a few weeks and then back to football."