Striker looking for goals at Ayr
Wednesday, 8th Oct 2014"I have a lot to thank Ayr for, they took a chance on me and I probably wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for them.
Michael Moffat will return to Ayr on Friday night for the first time as a Dunfermline Athletic player. He told this website that he was looking forward to it:-
"It was one of the fixtures I looked out for, I thought it would have been one of the first games. It will be good to go back and see everyone, the people round about the stadium as well as some of the boys I played with.
"Their manager had a big job to do in the summer; they must have lost seven or eight players, the majority of them who had been in and out of the first team. He must have some good contacts because you wouldn't have thought the boys they have brought in would have been signing for Ayr United. They are doing alright and we can expect them to be there or thereabouts when it comes to the play offs."
Moff' and his team mates know it will be a hard game but are hopeful that they can keep the run going and get a win even although it is against his former club:-
"I have a lot to thank Ayr for, they took a chance on me and I probably wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for them. I had three and a half good years there and I enjoyed every minute of it.
"Obviously there was the chance to come here full time, maybe I wouldn’t have got it again, but I think everybody understood how I left. I always said it would need to be a good deal to leave. You can’t beat full time football, it was too good an opportunity. I’m loving it…it's great. It's something I always wanted to do."
Michael has teamed up as a strikeforce with the Pars other new signing Gozie Ugwu and he felt that it was going well:-
"The more you play with somebody, the better you become. He didn't have much of a pre season and he has come to a new team just like I have. It will take a wee bit of time but I think there are signs that it is improving and getting better the more we play together. He has four goals and I have four goals."
His role is not necessarily entirely upfront and Michael freely admits that he likes to drop back and link up the game:-
"There is a slightly different style here at Dunfermline than there was at Ayr. Ayr were a lot more direct, getting the ball up early. Here there is a lot more passing it from the back so I feel that it is important to go and get involved rather than just standing upfront.
"I have not scored as many goals as I would have liked at the moment but I am sure that they will come if I keep working hard."
The 29 year old Pars striker always feels that he should be setting himself a target of at least 20 goals for the season. He feels that he should be further towards that praying on the belief that he maybe should have hit the net on Saturday at Stirling:-
"The main thing is as long as somebody is scoring the goals, it does not really need to be me that scores the goals as long as the team is winning. From a personal point of view and as a striker, you want to score every game. I will work hard to get in amongst the goals.
"Apart from the Morton game, and even in the games when we have been beat, we have deserved something out of the game. We have played well but the Morton game was the worst that we have played since I came here, we deserved nothing out of the game and we got nothing. Even at Forfar earlier on we had chances. At St Mirren and against Falkirk, these were games that we did well in.
"We have been steady enough at the back, creating enough chances - it is just a matter of time before we eventually click into gear. If that happens then somebody could be on the end of a few goals.
"The good thing is that after every defeat we have bounced back well and gone on a run. That is important and shows good signs of character. We lost at Forfar but won the next three, we lost at Morton and we have won the next two. Five wins in the last six games is good form in any league."
Michael conceded that maybe the away form needed to improve:-
"The home form has taken care of itself so far. We drew the first one but we have not conceded any goals so far. The away form needs to pick up a bit and hopefully we can continue the run on Friday night."
Ayr's home form has been a problem of late and hopefully Dunfermline will capitalise on that.
"Ayr will have a go and that might make it a game that will suit us. We will go there, knock the ball about and hopefully get the win. Even last season it was never in our game plan to sit in against Dunfermline. Maybe we should have! Especially at home though, teams normally have a go at you. If they camped in their own half I don't think their supporters would be too happy. Both teams will be going out to win it I think.
"It is important to score the first goal in this league. A lot of times we have gone in 0-0 at half time and then maybe the full time training kicks in second half. We need to start turning our chances into goals earlier on in the games. It would become easier for us then because teams would have to change their game plan, come out and have a go at you if you get an early goal. I'm sure that it will come.
"The next three games are against teams around about us so if we can take nine points or maybe even seven then we will have put down a wee marker."
Friday night's fixture completes the first quarter of the league programme with every side being played once. Michael pointed out that new boys to the league, Peterhead defeated Ayr United last weekend and predicted a hard game when Dunfermline travel up to Balmoor Stadium in November.
"Every team in the league can take points off each other. I don't think any team is likely to get cut adrift at the bottom. There will be three or four of them down there battling it out. There may be four or five at the top end battling it out as well."
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