Grounds for grinding

Ryan Wallace post East Stirlingshire match comments

Going by their post match comments neither manager was happy with the Referee Mat Northcroft but Ryan Wallace was happy with his decision to award Dunfermline a tenth minute penalty. The Pars striker grabbed the opportunity and converted from the spot to open his account for the 2013-14 season:-

"I was happy to get on the scoresheet but I am not going to comment about the referee, I am taking nothing to do with that. It is great to get back on the scoresheet, it was my first goal of the season and hopefully there are many more to come."

Last season Ryan scored 12 times in his 37 appearances for Jim Jefferies side and after Ross Millen's penalty kick at Central Park the previous Saturday Ryan elected to assume the responsibility:-

"Rosco has missed but to be honest he is a very good penalty taker. It was very out of character for him to miss. As soon as it was awarded I went and got the ball and thought I might as well go and hit it, I am a striker and I have got to score goals. I hit the penalty and be confident, strike through the ball and if you miss you miss. These things happen in football."

After taking the lead in ten minutes it took until three minutes from the end of the regulation 90 minutes before the cup tie was sealed. Ryan felt that the difficulty was the windy weather and the opposition.

"I don't think we made it difficult for ourselves, the conditions and the way East Stirling set up to play made it difficult. They went about their job very well and played to the conditions. It was very windy but they set up to stop us and that was very noticeable. The boys showed a different side of Dunfermline and ground out a result.

"Last year we maybe would have been beaten in one of these games whereas on Saturday the boys worked hard and got the result. It doesn't matter how pretty it looked, on paper you are in the next round.

"In the Second Division it is not always pretty football. You saw that last season against the likes of Dumbarton. We were 3-1 up and ended up getting beaten 4-3. In this league going away to places like Forfar and Brechin where there are tight pitches you are going to have to grind out results. You are going to have to work hard and just take your chances when you get them. We will have to just hang in there and playing until that happens because the conditions are not going to be great all year.

"When the winter comes the pitches get mucky and it will not always going to be bowling greens wherever you play. There are a few odd pitches like ourselves and East Fife that are decent but by Christmas time the pitches start to get bobbly. As long as we grind out a few results then we will be happy."

Two wins in the two cup games played so far has been a big boost to Jim Jefferies team:-

"The boys are delighted, we played a few big names in pre season so the boys are looking very fit. Playing against Hearts, Dundee United and Falkirk is not going to be easy but coming to places like East Stirling is your bread and butter. You need to come here and go through, it is nice to be in the next round of the cup."

Next up is the first league match of the League One season and for Ryan that means returning to from whence he came. While an East Fife player Ryan made over 50 appearances in 15 months there scoring 31 goals.

Ryan Wallace in action v East Fife 19/07/12

He continued:-  "It will be like going home and it will be nice to see some old faces but I am a Dunfermline player now and my job is to score goals for Dunfermline. If the chance pop up I will be happy to stick them away. Some East Fife fans might not be happy with me but at the end of the day that's my job. I can be friendly with them afterwards."

The only Fife league derby for the Pars this season will be against the Methil club and for them three points off their closet rivals would be a big result.

"If you look at the league Rangers and Dunfermline are big scalps to anyone. We just need to concentrate 100%, work hard and I am sure that we will be fine."