Talbot time may be coming
Thursday, 20th Aug 2015"If I get my chance then I have to take it, if I don't take it, then somebody else is going to take it."
After being sent off in Dunfermline's last pre season match, Jason Talbot is still looking forward to making his competitive debut for Dunfermline. That might now be about to happen.
"I played a couple of pre season games and felt great. I think the gaffer was happy with the way things were going and then here comes Hibs and one thing led to another. I had that split second to make my mind up and being me I always tend to choose the most stupid one to be fair.
"I have always said that I am not a dirty player. I am committed, very committed and honest. Sometimes that can be taken out of context with officials and other players. It is done, it is in the past and we have all moved forward and got on with things. To be fair the team has done absolutely brilliantly."
Even after sitting out a two game suspension, that form has made it hard for Jason and others to break into a winning team:-
"That is part of football. I have had to deal with that all of my career, when I have been suspended I have had to bide my time. When a team is doing as well as we are at the moment it is hard to make a change at all. You can see that - the team has not changed for the last five games.
"The boys have been unbelievable. All you can do is applaud and be part of that. I am happy to do that and to be part of a winning squad."
The 29 year old defender played the second half at Brechin due to an injury to Callum Fordyce and so he says he has had a taste of winning with the Pars.
"It was nice of the gaffer to put me on. You'd like to start games but you do what you can for the team when you come on. Hopefully you do enough for you to be in the gaffer's plans and in the next game he might put you in. If not then the game after that. You have got to train hard and hopefully get a chance.
"It is difficult being a defender on the bench because it is very rarely that you are going to get on. It has to be an injury or a tactical substitution. Strikers and midfielders can go on for twenty or thirty minutes."
Everybody is expecting Jason to take Ryan Williamson's place in the back four and he feels that it is a real shame for the 19 year old defender to be out again.
"The boy has been doing fantastically and he is a great boy as well. He is such a nice guy and for that to happen in the last minutes of the game on Tuesday night puts a downer on things. We performed absolutely brilliantly again. It was only 3-0 but the chances we created and the pace that we played at was unbelievable.
"There are unfortunate happenings in football. Hopefully I do get my chance but it is up to the gaffer at the end of the day. All I can do is what I have been doing for the last four or five weeks - training hard and if I get my chance then I have to take it, if I don't take it then somebody else is going to take it."
Peterhead would be Jason's first starting opponents in a Pars shirt and he has had experience of the Blue Toon as a Livingston player as recently as a 1-0 win at Balmoor Stadium last season in the Petrofac Training Cup.
"They made it very difficult for us" recalled Jason who focussed on Peterhead's 5-3 win at the Falkirk Stadium on Tuesday night, "they have had a great win in midweek and Rory McAllister scored five goals. Like Forfar it will be a tough test for us again but if we play the way we have been then I think we will do very well."
The opponents will be expected to be physical and Jason feels that will be the same for most teams when faced with Allan Johnston's Pars side:-
"We are fast, play great football and love to pass the ball so especially away from home we need to do that battling side. If we don't we will get bullied. On Tuesday night they battled well for the first twenty minutes. We did not get the early goal but we grounded out and got our just reward with the penalty.
"When you are at home with a big crowd, on that big pitch, nice surface with a bit of zip on it we could destroy some teams. That will be nice for the fans as well as the players and management.
"But away from home it is vital to win that battle. If we do not get the goal in the first twenty minutes then we have enough experience and youth to keep going and battle on. Last season when there were a lot of young boys and they weren't getting that early goal then sometimes their heads go when things don't go your way and you concede.
"Fingers crossed that I am involved on Saturday and I am looking forward to it very much whether starting or on the bench. I want to play, that is what I came here for."
Views : 4,632