Football Focus for Stevie

25/11/20: Records and plaudits are great but attention has to be on the next game against Dick Campbell’s Arbroath in the Betfred Cup

It has been Dunfermline’s best ever start to a season and their best start to a league campaign for 25 years. The last time the Pars had 13 or more points from their first five league games was season 1995-1996. That season Bert Paton’s team went on to win the league.

Stevie Crawford welcomed the stat but added words of caution: “It’s great, great to look at the positives but at some point we’re going to face adversity. There’s going to be something thrown at us and we’re going to have to adapt. We’re going to have take on difficult situations and take them on in a positive manner.”

Dunfermline have played nine matches this season, four in the Betfred Cup and five in the Scottish Championship. Those matches brought eight wins and one draw at Somerset Park away to Ayr United. Stevie continued:-

“So, it’s about not losing focus. We could have lost it going into the Hearts game because of the attention that the Hearts game brings. We didn’t and being competitive on the night was important to me.

“Equally, when we do face difficult results and spells through the season, as long as the boys apply themselves as they have been, I’ll be delighted. They’ve not been getting carried away and that is going to be massive going into the Arbroath game on Saturday, because it’s a very, very difficult place to go.”

The Pars manager was pleased to hear the praise poured upon his players from the pundits on BBC Scotland during their coverage of Friday night’s match:-

“I said it when Euan Murray got his player of the month award and when you hear people in the media talking positively about your players, it is great. As a player it is a nice place to be. When I listened to Dom’s interview after the game, it was all about the team.

“We go on about old fashioned wingers, but for a creative player he mentions that he only got five touches of the ball in the first half. But it wasn’t five touches of the ball feeling sorry for himself, but five touches knowing that he was doing his job and believing in a plan.

“As the game grew we gave ourselves an opportunity hoping the game would go the way it did. Sometimes these plans don’t work out that way but when you hear your players talking in that manner then it is very pleasing.”