Murdoch shone v Stenny
Sunday, 20th Dec 2015"These are the games that win you the league; at the end of the day we got the three points and we take it on from there.
Sean Murdoch played down the importance of his performance against Stenhousemuir with immense modesty given that he had a major role in securing Dunfermline's win in their last home match of 2015:-
"I am happy if I am called upon to go and make saves. It proved crucial today because we went on to win the game 1-0. We are going to get games like that and all credit to Stenhousemuir, I thought they were excellent and they had some good chances in the first half. These are the games that win you the league; at the end of the day we got the three points and we take it on from there.
"Stenhousemuir defended well and I cannot recall us many chances having to be honest. Maybe they were unfortunate to go away with no points. I think they had better chances but we were clinical and as long as we take the chance that is the most important thing."
Sean was well prepared to turn on the style in front of the East End Park faithful after a fantastic display at Ayr the previous week. He continued:-
"It was similar to Ayr last week, they tested us especially when we went down to ten men. It is vital, we have been pretty consistent defensively, clean sheets and goals against us are pretty good. As long as we can keep clean sheets we know that we can score goals. If can keep a clean sheet nine times out of ten we will win the games."
The Pars keeper's shut out against the Warriors was his eleventh from 25 matches for Dunfermline this season. He claimed the secret was keeping focussed:-
"It is not so much saves, you take back passes, crosses, come off your line. It is not just shot stopping, it is communicating and organising your defence. All in all I am happy with the performance and just delighted that we got the victory."
With Marc McAusland having to give in at half time to a migraine, Sean had to cope with re-organisation to his back four and Andy Geggan adapting to yet another position.
"It was quite funny. He is one of my best mates and he did excellently. I think it was the first time he has played centre half this season but he fitted in perfectly and did a great job."
The 29 year old keeper has a couple of phenomenal stops in that second half, he commented on the one just two minutes before Shaun Rooney scored the winner:-
"I don't know whether it was a shot or cross. It was a really good ball in by the Stenhousemuir player. We dealt with it well, sometimes it is just about getting your body in front of the ball and making sure that the ball doesn't go in the net. I just made myself big and palmed it away, I am happy that I was there to make the save."
Sean returned from USA where he played for Rochester Rhinos to join the Pars at the start of this season. He described how good it felt to be top of the league at Christmas:-
"It is just fantastic especially with Ayr getting beat. It couldn't have went better to be honest. There is still a long way to go though. We have played only 18 games, exactly half way but we have got to be happy with forty points. Second half of the season, hopefully the same and try and wrap up this league. It is a long season and it will be tough."
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