Edwards gets to grip with new contract

"It was a no-brainer. All I want to do is play football and I`m playing every game just now, so I`m more than happy to keep doing that

Putting ink to a new contract this week, Josh Edwards was delighted to extend his stay at Dunfermline Athletic. Since joining from Airdrieonians in July 2019 he has made 125 appearances, mainly starts and mainly for the full ninety minutes. He views his decision to join the club as having been really good for him and he hopes to keep repaying the faith shown of him for another eighteen months at the very least. He commented:-

"It`s a year extension, from the end of the season. It`s been fairly quick, the gaffer came to me and said he wanted to extend, and I was more than happy to. We got it done very quickly so I`m pleased about that with no real distractions.

"It was a no-brainer. All I want to do is play football and I`m playing every game just now, so I`m more than happy to keep doing that. I`m loving playing, I`ve played every game this season and I just want to keep playing.”

Josh aims to play in all sixteen league games remaining this season and end it in total contrast to his relegation through the plays offs last season. He has enjoyed the transformation since the arrival of James McPake and Dave Mackay claiming that everyone is getting on really well:-

“There weren`t that many changes to the squad over the summer but the boys that got brought in brought a lot to the squad and we`ve all got along. I think the darts tournaments every day have helped. We`ve been bashing them since we were watching them on the telly.

"A huge credit goes to the management team for bringing us all back together after a disappointing end to last season. They came in and really helped the atmosphere. They saw what was needed in the changing room, they`ve brought in the right players and it`s made us go from strength to strength. I think you can all see on the park just how together we are and how focused we are.”

It is not just the management team that is pleased that Josh has committed to Dunfermline Athletic for another season. Josh’s work-rate has made him a fans favourite and that has been clearly evident on social media. He added:-

"It`s nice to know that the fans want me to stay and want me to be part of the club. It`s always a nice feeling. I`m just glad to be staying on and hopefully I can help with the run-in and make the fans happy. It`s nice to know that I`m wanted at the club."

Josh has played a massive 10840 minutes for Dunfermline in his 118 starts and seven substitute appearances, the statistic demonstrating his value to the team while at the KDM Group East End Park:-

"It`s obviously a good feeling to racking up the appearances. I just enjoy playing and the more games I can play the better. I`m not looking to reach a certain goal or whatever but the more the better."

With three goals and 7 assists this season Josh is enjoying his attacking role he views his job more of a provider than a finisher:-

"I do enjoy it, to be fair, it means more running, however. I`m more than happy to do it, I enjoy getting forward - try and help out in the final third. There`s really no better feeling than scoring as well, so it helps when you`re further up the park. It`s something I`ve relished over the last wee while at the club. Hopefully I get to play higher more often as well."

Josh is not included in the shooting in the match warm up since at that point he is invariably with Dave Mackay warming up the defenders. He revealed his approach:-

"I`m trying more to set the boys up, but if I get in that position, I just hit it as hard as I can. I just try and smash it. I`d rather be ready go defensively than forward. Just to know that I am ready to go if someone is running at me or a cross to the back post, that I`m ready to deal with that. Then I`ll just kind of wing going forward."

The other important arsenal in the Edwards locker is his long throw ins and Josh discussed how that had become a very important part of the team’s tactics. He felt that in the recent away cup ties his launch hadn’t quite lived up to its full potential:-

"My arms are still sore from the weekend and Tuesday from launching the ball in. I don`t know what`s happened to me but it seems to be shorter than last year in games. So I`ll need to work out why that is. I don`t think I`m getting the grip - I need to dry the ball or something like that. I need to get the towels - it`s better back here at East End Park because the kitman Mo puts towels around the side of the pitch so I can dry the ball and then throw it in. At the away grounds I don`t have that luxury.

“The gaffer loves it, thinks it`s a great weapon. So if he wants me to keep doing it, I`ll happily keep doing it. I`ve always been able to feel that I can throw it far, but I`d never realised that I`ve actually been able to properly launch it. We were doing 11v11 in training one day and I`ve thrown a long one - the boy has made a run and I`ve thrown in. The gaffer`s gone `why didn`t you tell me about this?`. It kind of just took off from there. The first game I tried it was the Airdrie game and we scored straight from it. I didn`t realise I had it to that extent but I always knew I could throw it a wee bit further than most folk."

As for the secret behind his talent he had no special technique to report:-

"I feel like where I grip the ball, it`s easier for me to fling it further, if that makes any sense at all. There are some boys, like Morton`s Lewis Strapp who can fling it twice as far. He`ll have a technique but I don`t really have a set way of me going to throw it."

Josh was comfortable talking about contract and thrown ins but drawn on Saturday’s match against Clyde he would rather not recall what he considered as his poor day when the Bully Wee came to town:-

"It took us until the 92nd minute to secure the game away from home. I don`t want to talk much about the home game! They defended really well against us. We got two penalties, but we were struggling to break them down that day probably we got lucky to get away with a point. I`ll take the blame for that game. It was a loose back pass from myself, these things happen. The first one as well, I`ve got my toe to it and I`ve tripped over myself and they boy has tapped it in the net.

"They are a tough team. Jim Duffy has been about, so he knows exactly what he is doing. I`m sure they`ll have a game plan on how they think they can beat us. We`ll just going to have to listen to the manager and stick to our game plan. I`m sure he`ll know how we can go and hurt them and how we can go and win the three points.”

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