“I tell you, I might have looked good but I don’t feel good.”
That was Lewis McCann following his headed winner with three minutes to go in Saturday’s West Fife derby.
The forward has been out with a hamstring injury and hadn’t featured since the win at Clyde in October.
He scored twice in a bounce game last week before coming off the bench to, eventually, win the game for the Pars – even if it took its toll on his body.
Your first Christmas present #DAFC Fans 🎁
The goals from yesterday’s 2-1 win over Kelty Hearts 🏁
Have a great day everyone 🎄 pic.twitter.com/5Bpg6gIv3Q
— Dunfermline Athletic (@officialdafc) December 25, 2022
Kelty Hearts were ahead seconds after McCann was brought on as a second-half substitute.
Not a great start
“When you come on and one of the first things that you do is give the ball away for their goal, it is not a great start,” said McCann.
“But then I kind of made up for it at the end.”
Kelty’s opener was scored by Alfredo Agyeman, which forced Pars boss James McPake into a triple change.
Soon after Dunfermline were level through a Tam O’Ware own goal.
McCann then leapt brilliantly to nod in fellow substitute Kyle Macdonald’s cross with minutes remaining.
“I have actually completely forgotten (what happened just after the goal) due to euphoria as soon as it went in,” added the 21-year-old.
“I just lost my head, thinking thank God that went in.
“As I said, it was a dream way to come back and I’m just buzzing now.”
Patient recovery
Dunfermline were patient with McCann’s recovery. The striker revealed that he’d have been back playing sooner if it was up to him.
He said he had trust in his manager for the aggressive changes from the bench during the win over Kelty – and in the Pars medical team.
“I have been doing a lot of running and they have given me a lot of time to get back,” said McCann.
“They weren’t risking anything, I could have come back earlier on but they made sure that I was 100% to come back and not do something silly.”
“I think if the physio team wasn’t as strong as it is then I would have been able to say look, ‘I am fine to come back’.
“But I could have done something stupid and done it again or, even worse, hurt something else.
“I am glad that they put their foot down and said, ‘no, this is the timeline, this is when you are coming back and this is what we are going to do and you have to do all this before you comeback’.”
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