When John Hughes remarked recently that Kai Kennedy was ‘not at Dunfermline to sit on the bench’, it was as much a challenge to the on-loan Rangers youngster as it was a general observation.
With a goal — his first for the club — and two assists in Saturday’s 3-3 draw against Queen of the South, the teenager made a forceful case for why the Pars need his talents in their starting line-up.
Having been forced to wait for a chance under Hughes, Kennedy gave notice of what he can bring to the side with a hat-trick in a recent bounce game against Hibernian.
Saturday was another indication that he can flourish for the Fifers, despite them languishing in eighth spot in the Championship table.
🎥 All the goals from yesterday's 3-3 draw with Queen of the South.
Full Highlights Later! 🏁 pic.twitter.com/T5IlgGbbCN
— Dunfermline Athletic (@officialdafc) December 12, 2021
He said: “The last month hasn’t been great for me but I’ve just been pushing hard.
“I train as hard as I can every day and do things behind the scenes, and keep pushing.
“It’s obviously paid off. I don’t want to stop now, I just want to keep going.
“In the Hibs game, I scored three. That was a chance to prove myself and I think I did in that game. I just need to keep going.
“When a manager comes in, you want to hear someone who believes in you and gives you confidence. Even before the game, he’s pushing at me and he’s not giving me it easy.
“Hopefully, I proved a point on Saturday by coming out and doing it for him.
“He always talks to me and pushes me hard. A lot of managers have but he pushes me hard and hard, and he expects a lot. I just need to prove it when I go on the pitch and hopefully I did that against Queens.”
‘Shut the back door’
After back-to-back 1-0 defeats to Partick Thistle and Hamilton Accies, Dunfermline got off to the worst possible start with Alex Cooper’s opener for Queens.
Despite further lapses in defence, they proved their resilience by snatching a point with time running out.
Kennedy added: “Of course we’re disappointed to get a draw at home. Conceding three goals, it’s going to be hard to get a win.
“We need to get together as a team and stop conceding goals, because that’s the problem. If we’re scoring three we can’t be conceding three.
“It was a home game and we wanted to win, so we’re disappointed.
“Both sides had chances, we probably had the better ones, and we need to shut the back door and stop conceding goals as a team.”
