Thomson happy to be on road to recovery

Joe Thomson is delighted to have completed the final step of his “long road” to recovery after he made his first start for Dunfermline in nine months.

The former Celtic youngster ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee in the 1-0 defeat to Ayr United in March and has endured a frustrating battle back to full fitness.

The 22-year-old made his comeback as a replacement in the Scottish Cup defeat to Stranraer last month and, after three more substitute’s appearances, finally made it into the Pars’ starting line-up at the weekend.

The only disappointment for the popular midfielder, who was sacrificed in favour of striker Andy Ryan late in the game, was marking the milestone with a 2-0 defeat.

He said: “It has been a long nine months. Obviously, I would have preferred it to have been a better result.

“But it’s been a long road for myself and I was delighted to be part of the team.

“I felt brilliant, I wanted to stay on to help the team; I would never be happy to be substituted. I felt fresh and as if I could have lasted the game.

“But we were getting beat 1-0 and we needed to put a striker on, so I fully understand the decision.

“The feeling is one of disappointment. I don’t think we did ourselves justice with the way we played. We did not play as well as we are capable of and probably the better team won.”

After back-to-back defeats, which brought to an end three straight victories, Dunfermline now have outings against Alloa Athletic and Ayr United at East End Park, where they have won their last five matches.

Picture: SNS. Joe Thomson.