BY IAIN COLLIN – @CCP_sport
Craig Reid insists Dunfermline’s march back to the Championship will vindicate his decision to drop down to Scotland’s third-tier for the first time in his career.
The 29-year-old cut short his contract with Motherwell last month and penned a short-term deal with the Pars to help solve the Fifers’ defensive crisis.
The former Queen of the South and Morton defender has slotted seamlessly into the East End Park rearguard and has so far helped the League One leaders pick up two crucial wins.
And, with Allan Johnston’s men enjoying an eight-point lead over second-placed Peterhead at the top, the one-time Celtic youngster wants to now help wake up the ‘sleeping giants’.
Speaking ahead of this afternoon’s clash with Brechin City, Reid said: “You play the game to win things so that was in my thinking coming here to Dunfermline.
“But, not only that, this is a massive club. There’s a big fan-base and they’re in a league where, because of the size of the club, they shouldn’t be.
“To come here and be part of it and hopefully get the club back to where they belong was a big pull for me.
“I played against Dunfermline quite a few times over the years with Morton and Queen of the South. You know East End Park is a good place to play. There’s always a big crowd and it’s a nice, big stadium.”
Some may have questioned Reid’s decision to slip down two divisions after departing Fir Park but the versatile full-back is unperturbed.
He added: “Obviously I wanted to stay full-time. I’ve not played at this level before, I’ve always been Championship or above, but it doesn’t faze me.
“The club’s well run. You see how professional it is and it’s a massive club – it’s probably a sleeping giant in Scottish football.
“In league terms they should be in a higher league. They’ve got a big fan-base and obviously that was a big attraction.
“The whole package was to come here and try and win things.”
Having come back from 2-0 down to defeat title rivals Ayr United 3-2 in a stirring encounter last weekend, the last thing the Pars will want this afternoon will be to slip up in any way against the league’s bottom side.
However, Reid is confident there is no way the Fifers will be taking anything for granted at Glebe Park.
He said: “It was a big test for us to go two goals down against Ayr but to respond the way we did shows we never give up and that we have the confidence in the squad to believe we could still go on and win the game.
“The sending off helped and the goal before half-time was a good time to score a goal.
“But we still had to go out in the second-half and try and pin them back and attack and keep going. We had to be patient and we got the goals, and ended up seeing the game out comfortably in the end.
“We need to take it game to game and if we don’t achieve what we want to this week then last week will mean nothing.
“It’s just another three points on the long road to what we want to achieve.”
