An update from First Team Coach,  Gary Small

I would like to start the update by saying a massive thanks to all our supporters on behalf of the management team and players for the backing they have given us this season. It’s great to see the uplift in attendances this season and it really makes a difference to the players having you there home and away cheering us on.

Onto the football side of things and it’s been a busy couple of weeks with league and cup games presenting us with different challenges. As we have said so often this season the boys have been fantastic and have shown real resilience in recent games. 

We had to dig deep against a very good Rosyth team in our last league game, in a game that on the balance of play they deserved something out the game but our perseverance saw us get the winner late in the game. That’s not easy and doesn’t happen by chance, the players work amazingly hard right to the end and when you have this in your makeup you are always going to give yourself a chance. 

Last week we were on cup business at home to Dalkeith, it was another difficult game and we had to be patient but in the end that perseverance I mentioned above saw us run out 3-0 winners. On that occasion it took a couple of moments of real quality first from James to open the scoring with a brilliant strike before half time and Josh once again with an outstanding free kick which we have become accustomed to in recent weeks. The one that pleased me the most was the 3rd as it was a really good team goal which Johnny Edmond  finished off from close range. 

I’d like to recognise the impact Johnny has had since he has come back into the squad following a lengthy injury. He’s worked really hard and is starting to get the rewards and great to see him back scoring regularly.  Johnny has a knack of being in the right place at the right times and I particularly liked Shaun Miller’s comment on Tuesday night “I think Johnny Ed was born in the 6 yard box”…brilliant.

Off the park we have also added further quality to the squad with the signing of Sean Stewart from Berwick Rangers. Sean is a very good player who will add further competition in the forward areas of the team and has fitted in really well so far. We have built a really strong squad with real depth but the offshoot of that is we cant select everyone. It’s not something that is easy as we value the players very highly and we don’t take it lightly when we see how hard they work and some don’t make the 18 never mind the starting 11 on a match day. 

We do believe however it’s really important to have depth in order for us to achieve the goals we have set ourselves this season. In fairness to the guys who have been left out they have been really professional despite their disappointment which doesn’t surprise me as they are a brilliant group to work with and I can’t speak highly enough of them.

Football can change very quickly, we can go from having a full squad one week to having to fill the bench with U20’s players which we have seen at times already this season and every single player in the squad, have and will, play a key role between now and the end of the season.

Tomorrow we are back to league business away from home to Whitehill Welfare. It’s a game we are really looking forward to but at the same time appreciate it will be a very difficult game. Whitehill are in the bottom 3 but for me they are far better than their league position shows. I know their management team well and know they will have them fit, well organised and they have already added some good quality to the squad since they took over. 

I’ve been in football a long time and never seen a game won on paper yet so league positions will have no bearing on how difficult a game it will be. I can assure you we won’t be taking them lightly. We are well prepared, it’s been a good week with the friendly on Tuesday and a very good session last night but we know if we don’t apply ourselves correctly we will be in for a difficult afternoon. We trust the players to go out and do what’s required to get the 3 points, as they have shown time and time again this season their ability to overcome challenges. 

Kevin has broken the season down into fifths with 6 games in each and we have just come out of the 3rd fifth which has been our most successful to date with 6 wins out of 6. As we enter the penultimate fifth tomorrow, hopefully we can get off to a good start as we feel another period of positive results will go some way to achieving our objectives for the season.

Thanks again for your support and we all look forward to seeing you tomorrow and for the remainder of the season.

All the best

Gary Small

First Team Coach

DUFC