Dream machine breaks Kelty Hearts

LMc: - “It was a dream way to come back and I’m just buzzing now.”

Christmas couldn’t get much better for Dunfermline striker Lewis McCann scoring his sixth goal of the season while making his comeback after nine weeks out injured. The 21 year old showed no signs of trouble from the serious hamstring injury that sidelined him as he was manager James McPake’s first change as he tried to get a result at Kelty on Christmas Eve.

“I’m just delighted to be back really” said Lewis. Obviously it is a dream way to come back isn’t it? I am just happy that we came away with the win.

“When you are in the stand injured and can’t do anything it is quite hard to deal with. It has been stressful to say the least just watching I know how fans feel now! I am happy to be back and happy to make an impact as well.”

Lewis came on for Chris Mochrie seven minutes into the second half and he scored the winner four minutes from full time. His manager displayed faith to first call upon Lewis in an attempt to change things. Lewis responded:-

“I’m glad that I’m that figure but the next aim is to keep going, keep winning games and keep the streak going. When you come on and one of the first things that you do is give the ball away for their goal, it is not a great start. But then I kind of made up for it at the end.”

For his first game back Lewis looked incredibly fit and far from rusty after his absence. He was not afraid to take men on and displayed great recovery to win back the ball. He attributed his fitness to the physios who had been looking after him:-

“Well, I have been doing a lot of running and they have given me a lot of time to get back. They weren’t risking anything, I could have come back earlier on but they made sure that I was one hundred percent to come back and not do something silly. My legs are knackered now though. I can tell you, I might have looked good but I don’t feel good.

“I think if the physio team wasn’t as strong as it is then I would have been able to say look ‘I am fine to come back’. But I could have done something stupid and done it again, or even worse hurt something else. I am glad that they put their foot down and said no - this is the timeline, this is when you are coming back and this is what we are going to do and you have to do all this before you comeback.”

Thankfully Lewis had plenty of spring in him in 86 minutes to rise and head home Kyle MacDonald’s cross for the goal. That moment became a bit of a blur for the player who has represented Northern Ireland at both U19 and U21 level:-

“I have actually completely forgotten due to euphoria as soon as it went in. I just lost my head thinking thank god that went in. As I said, it was a dream way to come back and I’m just buzzing now.”

A bounce game played in midweek against Dundee United served as great re-introduction to match football and he claimed that it was a confidence booster for him:-

“I played 70 minutes and that makes you feel that you are strong enough to play again. After that obviously I felt tired but I felt no tweaks, my hamstring was fine so I was confident going back on there knowing that I could give one hundred percent.”

Lewis had only been on the pitch 14 minutes when the manager made a triple substitution. Lewis had faith that the manager wouldn’t be pulling him off and in what looked like drastic re-organisation:-

“I trust the gaffer and whatever he is thinking and how he wants the game to go. Whatever he wants us to do, we will do and it did work. Hopefully we can keep this going, take it game by game and next up is Falkirk. I will focus on a few days with the family and when we come back we will prepare for it right.”

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