Dicker determined for happy ending
GARY DICKER has been at Kilmarnock long enough to know that you have to accept the bad times with the good. And with just two Premiership games left to maintain the Ayrshire club’s top-flight status following Saturday’s disappointing 2-0 defeat, the Irish midfielder is determined to play his part in ending a campaign to forget on a high note.
It was not so long ago that Dicker was at the heart of Steve Clarke’s Killie side that only finished behind the Old Firm in the table. Finding himself embroiled in a relegation dogfight at this stage of the season is a little jarring, he admits, adding that all of the players at Rugby Park are fully aware just how damaging a potential relegation could be.
“Everyone is nervous before a game,” said the 34-year-old. “If you don’t have that nervous energy then you are too slack and you are not on it.
“People are worried; of course they are. If you weren’t worried about where we are I would be worried about you. You have to use that as energy to prove people wrong and shut people up.
“That’s what motivates me and I have used that throughout my career. I want to do the best I can for this club and you are representing yourself and your family, so you have to be up for it.
“For everyone connected with Kilmarnock the next two games are vital, not just the players. There are a whole lot of people that make everything tick at a football club and that goes unnoticed, especially in the tough times like we are in right now.
“We have a lot of responsibility and we have to win these two games we have left and then take it from there. We have the game against St Mirren next and we will just focus on that.
“These games are the biggest games of our season – but they all should have been. Every game is one you will never get back.
“I always say whether you are 20 or 35 you have to make every pass, every minute count and we didn’t against Motherwell and we got punished.
“Football can change so quickly. I have been around the good and the bad times at this club.
“As a club, a team and individuals maybe some people took their eye off of it and thought it was easy. There are no easy games in this league.
“When I first came to the club we were scrapping about near the bottom and I don’t want to be here again. I know what it’s like and it isn’t nice.
“You can only look at yourself. We got ourselves into this position, it is up to us to get ourselves out of it. We have to forget the past, you can’t live off of that, so we have to look forward to the next game and make sure we get three points.”
For Motherwell, though, the victory in Lanarkshire represented further progress under the guidance of Graham Alexander. The Steelmen were very much involved in the scrap at the foot of the table when the former Scotland internationalist pitched up at Fir Park in January, and now they find themselves up in seventh with three consecutive wins since the split was introduced.
Devante Cole and Stephen O’Donnell got the goals in what was a regulation 2-0 win but the match was a significant one for Sam Foley, the midfielder who signed a shortterm deal at the start of the year after leaving St Mirren.
A back injury kept the 34-year-old out the of starting line-up until Saturday but now he has made his first appearance in claret and amber, Foley simply hopes it won’t be his last.
“We haven’t spoken about next year yet,” he said. “The future could hold anything and we will get to the end of the season then I will speak to the manager.
“I have never made a decision based on money in my life. I was pottering around for peanuts when I was younger and playing part-time and
amateur football. I’ve been fortunate enough to go on and have a half-decent career from effort and work-rate and that’s my philosophy and how football is for me. If I can play on as long as possible, wherever it is I would love to do that.
“I just want to play as much as I can, although I know there aren’t a lot of games left. I want to make sure I enjoy every minute on the pitch.”