Raith Rovers’ Gregory Tade has revealed that his manager’s mind games helped him net the winner in the Fife derby against Dunfermline on Sunday.
The Rovers support rose as one to acclaim the Frenchman’s superb finish after he latched on to a defence-splitting pass from strike partner John Baird.
In their previous two games against Falkirk and Partick Thistle, Raith had failed to find the back of the net. In the build-up to the match against the Pars, Stark’s Park gaffer John McGlynn had his players carrying out a passing drill that ended with each player scoring — with the exception of Tade.
The forward admitted his boss’s “reverse psychology” paid off.
“We have not played at home since the start of November so it was good to be back here and to win against Dunfermline,” said Tade.
“To be honest, I feel Bairdy should talk you through my goal as he was responsible for most of it. When he got the ball, I knew I needed to make a run so I just wanted to go and clear the space.
“I saw him beating one defender after another so I wanted to peal off and make myself like a ghost. Bairdy then played the perfect ball in and I just struck it across the keeper.
“The manager had said in the build-up to the game that he did not think I could score a goal even if I was on the line. So I proved him right and I proved him wrong. Earlier, I had a header on the line which went over the bar.
“But, in my defence, I did not see the ball until the last moment and it bounced off the top of my head. I did score, though, so perhaps the manager’s reverse psychology worked.”Great feelingTade added, “I netted last season in the derby but we lost. I have said before that it would not matter if I scored a hat-trick in a game if we lost it 4-3. Instead, I scored one against Dunfermline and we won 2-1, so it is a great feeling.
“There is a long way to go in the season with a lot of games and hopefully there will be more goals for me as well. Many people said that Dunfermline would beat us — I think they do not have faith in us. But that does not matter as in our dressing-room we have faith in ourselves.
“We have a very strong team spirit and loads of self-belief, so people can say what they want.”
Tade also paid tribute to fellow goal scorer, centre-half Mark Campbell. It was “Sparky’s” third match back after almost a year out following a career-threatening car crash. His goal as well as his overall performance earned Campbell a deserved man-of-the-match award.
“The big man is different class,” added Tade. “He had not played for a long time when he came back in at Partick a couple of weeks ago but he did a great job for us.
“Against Dunfermline he showed he is still a sure thing in the team and scored a great goal.”