Wanting to be a legend

Shaun Byrne is hoping that he and his fellow Under 20s team mates can save Dunfermline from the play offs

Shaun Byrne is taking up Jim Jefferies challenge to be a legend at East End Park before he is no longer a teenager. As Captain of the U20s side that has made the SFA Youth Cup final, he has led the Club to that national final for the first time since 1988. Should Jefferies Babes manage to win on Saturday against Cowdenbeath and complete the great escape from relegation then the gaffer has said they will always be remembered at Dunfermline Athletic.

"It could be more important than the promotion match against the Rovers because of the state of the Club" claims the 19 year old midfielder. "If we win it gives us a chance to stay up without going to the play offs. We have a better goal difference than Cowdenbeath but still got another two hard games to go until the end of the season."

Nine of the players who appeared for the Pars last Saturday were teenagers and Shaun and his team mates recognised the importance of the victory at Cappielow just as soon as they discovered that Cowdenbeath had taken full points from their visit to Starks Park.

"It was a massive win, everybody was buzzing in the changing room and the gaffer was delighted as well. He called it the best result of the season and I would agree with that, more so because of the young team we had out. We had gone to Morton before with a more experienced team and got beat 4-2."

The contribution from John Potter was highlighted by Shaun:-

"He spoke to everybody and kept everybody going when we were tired at the end. We struggled and the last fifteen minutes felt like the longest fifteen minutes I have ever had in my life. I kept asking the ref how long? And he was just saying 'five', I asked him again and it was five. Potts helped everybody through the game using his experience and talking; he was good and it was a great team performance as well."

The first win in eleven games has come as a great boost to the Pars squad who have breezed through training this week looking forward to each game as it gets bigger. Like the rest of the squad Shaun is hoping that the derby match crowd can create that extra something to bring success from Saturday's clash.

"The more fans there are the more it is going to boost the players. You could see against Hamilton that it gave the players an extra lift with that extra thousand or so fans getting behind them. When you get corners, the more noise there is, it spurs you on. Hopefully they liked what they saw and come back again."