Manager on Thursday

12/11/20: SC - “We will put a team out on the park on Saturday that is capable of winning the game.

International call ups mean that Stevie Crawford will be without Owain Fôn Williams and Lewis Mayo for Saturday’s Betfred Cup match against Clyde. Owain is in the Wales squad and Lewis in the Scotland U21 squad. The Pars boss admits that brings problems for team selection but stressed:-

“It is problems that you want with someone pulled into the national squad again. When you, or the fans before lockdown, talk to big Owain he is just an infectious guy, very passionate about his country and passionate about football in general.

“I keep saying it but he will come back and the first thing that I will do is have a conversation over a coffee with him to steal the ideas that the Welsh squad are using. I am absolutely delighted for the big man.

“When Owain came here on his loan spell, his own experiences came through and what he had already achieved and dealt with in football. It is not as easy as what you see when you step over that line on to the park. It is dealing with ups and downs and the difficulties that football can bring to you.”

“Owain keeps it real, he is just a normal guy and that is not taking anything away from him. He is humble, he enjoyed his loan spell with us very much and he signed the two year deal. For him to get international recognition with the possibility of going to a major championship is great for the club never mind Owain.”

Turning his attention to the game on Saturday against Clyde from which Dunfermline require to take just one point from to top their group, the manager was pleased with the attitude displayed by his players:-

“Kyle Turner has just told Pars TV that he wants to win every game of football that he is involved in. It is refreshing to hear your players talking that way never mind us as a coaching staff. It is winning that mentality.

“Clyde are on the back of four defeats and they will be smarting at that. They will come to East End on Saturday to make it as difficult as possible. We face other challenges, we have a couple away on international duty but we will put a team out on the park on Saturday that is capable of winning the game.

“We have got to make sure that we are in competitive mode. Saturday is going to come too soon for Aaron Comrie. He is back running and doing work with Jamie Sutton but I don’t want to take any risks with Aaron since that’s the second time that he has gone over on his ankle.”

Stevie also confirmed that his 24 year old defender Lewis Martin is going to be out for a lengthy spell and is going to have to do rehab.

“It is disappointing but at least we know where we are at with Lewis now. The problem is coming from his calf and worked its way down to the ball of his foot. It is just one of those things. There are boys at other clubs who have suffered from the lockdown period and have picked up lengthy injuries. Unfortunately Lewis seems to be that one who has picked up something when out running during the lockdown period.

“Jamie is working on a daily basis with him. Lewis is a great boy and the fact that we offered him a new contract extension last year was because I thought that he was terrific for us. We just have to make sure that we are man managing him because he will have a big part to play in this club moving forward.

“Ryan Dow was back fit from the hamstring injury and got through thirty minutes against Ayr at the weekend and he has played himself into contention to start.”

Above: Lewis Martin in the last game he played against Partick Thistle in March

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