No doubting Thomas
Monday, 29th Sep 2014"I could believe it when the gaffer said 'James just go and warm up'
- - Listen to these comments from James Thomas
Seventeen year old James Thomas made a goalscoring senior debut on Saturday and following the game he spoke to the media. He certainly sounded like he would not come down off that cloud for a long time. He said:-
"I am very proud and that is just unbelievable. Honestly, I cannot describe the feeling coming on debuting and getting a goal was absolutely brilliant."
The opportunity for the Bellshill born boy cropped up as strikers Ryan Wallace and Allan Smith were sidelined. Ryan has been told to rest to give his groin a chance to heal and Allan underwent surgery in midweek to have his tonsils removed. After showing great form in the under 20s Jim Jefferies and John Potter had no reservations in sending the youngster into what was a bit of a cauldron generated by a Peterhead team that had pressed self destruct:-
"I thought that I was going to be in the squad but I didn't know that I was going to be on the bench. Getting on the pitch is even better, it is brilliant."
The events leading up to the double red card at the end of the first half could not be explained:-
"I was sitting there but didn't know what was happening. I didn't even realise that they were getting sent off. I just saw them all running about and it wasn't until the other boys on the bench told me that I heard about red cards. I didn't even have a clue.
"When three men are sent off we should be winning the game." The goals came, then enter James Thomas and assistance from a familiar source:-
"I have played with Shaun (Byrne) plenty of times in the under 20s. I know what he is like, he likes to play through balls. I think that I am strong at running off the ball and I just realised he was on the ball so I just moved off the defence to let him slip the ball through and I found the back of the net."
For the 73 minutes before James subbed Josh Falkingham, Dunfermline had struggled to score any more than two goals against a resilient Peterhead defence but James made it look so easy to find the net, he explained the advantage he felt that he had:-
"I had been watching from the bench, as Potts tells me all the time - always watch when I am sitting watching the first team or if I am up in the stand, always watch the defence and the strikers. I can take key points off the strikers, look at the weaknesses and that is what I did."
Red cards for opponents are nothing new for James with red mist descending on opposition keeper, Cammy Mackay in his last under 20s game:-
"I came on against Inverness and in the 90th minute the keeper just had a swipe at my legs, straight red card but silly, stupid."
It was getting on the park again as a sub that made James' day but this time it was on a much bigger stage.
"I could't believe it when the gaffer said 'James just go and warm up' - there was a big smile on my face just running down, it was brilliant."
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