It is perhaps a sign of the perfectionist in Alex Jakubiak that the striker turned in probably his best performance for Dunfermline – and was still left ‘fuming’ at full-time.
The former Dundee marksman terrorised the Dundee United defence in the Pars’ 3-1 victory last Friday and had a hand in all three of his side’s goals.
He earned glowing praise from manager James McPake and a place in the SPFL team of the week for his exploits.
But it was his failure to find the back of the net himself that left the 27-year-old frustrated on a personal level.
When he subsequently discovered that BBC pundit and former Hearts and Hibernian midfielder Michael Stewart had also been critical in his TV commentary, it only served to deepen his disappointment.
“Probably performance-wise, it was one of my better games I’ve had,” said Jakubiak. “I got a lot of messages saying how well I’d done. My mum was watching it on the TV.
“But, you might not believe it, I was fuming after the game that I didn’t get a goal.
“I see that I was in the team of the week as well, but I thought Kane [Ritchie-Hosler] should have been in that. He got man of the match, two goals and an assist. I thought he deserved that.
“I was just annoyed that I didn’t get a goal, that’s kind of how I work.
Jakubiak: ‘A bit harsh’
“I was watching it back and the commentator [Stewart] was slating me!
“He was saying things like, I have played well today but I don’t do it enough or only show it in glimpses.
“With my injuries and being in and out of the team, it’s been hard.
“I thought it was a bit harsh but he is entitled to say what he wants. He said, ‘he flatters to deceive’, that was the quote that I picked up.
“But I was happy with my performance.”
He added: “As frustrated as I was that I didn’t score, I think getting an assist and contributing, helping the team by holding up the ball and trying to be a nuisance to their defence, helped us get up the pitch.
“As a striker, you get judged on goals and I know I am the first one to criticise myself.
“Looking at my stats [two goals in 22 appearances], I have not scored nearly enough goals. But it is a team game and what I can bring to the team other than goals is good.”
McPake this week claimed Jakubiak is ‘too good’ for the Scottish Championship if he can reach his peak consistently.
And the former Watford youngster, who played under the Dunfermline boss at Dundee, reckons McPake has been key to him hitting the heights against United.
Confidence
“He is good at installing confidence in players,” he added. “There are times where someone might not be doing too well or not feeling good within themselves.
“But he is good at keeping them motivated and in training, having one-to-one meetings and watching video clips of good stuff, which obviously makes you feel good.
“Even if there’s stuff that you have not done well, just watching it back saying, ‘what could you have done there?’.
“It is definitely helpful to have a manager that believes in you and that is always going to give you confidence.”
Dunfermline will be hoping to take that belief into this weekend’s trip to face Morton at Cappielow.
A victory would take the Pars above their hosts and into fifth in the table and potentially further away from the dreaded relegation play-off spot four points below.
“We set a standard with a performance like that,” he said of the United victory. “But we could easily perform like that and go out on Saturday and be terrible.
“We know how good we can be and we just need to maintain that now. It will almost be a waste of performance if we didn’t match those levels on a weekend.
“If you win a couple of games you are looking at play-offs. If you lose one or two and other results go against you then you are looking down the way.
“It is exciting, it has always been like that. But I don’t think it has ever been this close with the amount of teams that are still in the running with just a few games left.”
