McCann Shines Again As Dunfermline Are Victorious At The National Stadium

Dunfermline Athletic could be in for an interesting 2023/24 Scottish Championship campaign, as although we have not exploded into life in the early weeks of the current season, we do seem to be quite steady and reliable, and with the cobwebs now well and truly blown away, many will feel that in the weeks to come there will only be further slight improvements.

Five games into the new campaign, we have picked up eight points having gained two wins and two draws, losing only once. Sitting in sixth place in the table right now, our position could even be slightly better given a couple of sides above us have already played an extra game. For those who like a flutter, we might not be talking  champions league winner odds levels, but there are no doubt some good gambles out there on what kind of year we might have.

Of course, our most recent victory came against Queen`s Park last Saturday, where 22 year old striker Lewis McCann helped himself to a second half brace at Hampden Park, in fairness he could well have had himself a hattrick with a small slice of luck going in his favour.

Everyone already knows how pleased manager James McPake was following the performance and the victory as he was in front of the media a couple of days ago.

“It was a good performance. In terms of football we were better in the first half than we were in the second, even though we scored two goals in the second half. We were a bit wasteful in the first half but credit to the players for defending as a team from Lewis McCann and Craig Wighton all the way back to Harrison Sharp. It was a really good and complete performance, we never really looked troubled. It could have been better had we been more relaxed and ruthless in front of goal in the first half. It would have been a really comfortable afternoon, we created a lot of chances in the first half – we opened them up pretty well but we were wasteful and I suppose that’s good because it gives us something to think about. I wouldn’t be saying that had we not got the two goals in the second half."

Commenting briefly on the goalscorer,  the gaffer was full of praise for his overall approach and attitude to the game.

“He has got that in him. We see that every day, he gets to the point where we need to tell him to stop practicing because he is risking injury. He is great to work with, he would practice every day if he could. He is probably getting the rewards of that now. He is big, he is strong, he has two good feet. He has goals in him, he can header it, he scores all types of goals and causes all types of problems so I am delighted for him. He was desperate to get the hat-trick but it is not bad when you are coming away from the National Stadium and your biggest concern is that Lewis never got a hat-trick. That’s the desire in him.”

It was only a matter of time before we heard from the player himself, and he knew it was a memorable day on a personal front as in normal circumstances, not many players at all get to have the historic National Stadium experience.

“I didn’t expect it to go in, and when it does, it was like a shock. It was a nice wet pitch to slide on. It is a massive stadium. You don’t realise that it is that big until you actually play on it. It is the first time that I have been in the stadium. Everyone, from back to front, gave their all. We have a lot of players missing, so we banded together and performed well from start to finish. Even towards the end when we were just defending, it didn’t ever feel like we were going to concede. Hopefully, we can build on it, keep the momentum going, and fingers crossed, I can avoid injuries and continue scoring goals.”

We will have to see what the remainder of the season brings.

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