Fairbairn: ‘The new system suits us!’

Captain Fairbairn has been in great form since Coughlin’s arrival and earned the praise of his boss after Saturday’s game

Club captain Jonny Fairbairn has revealed that he believes the secret to the succes the ‘Gers have enjoyed over the last two months is down to the new system introduced by manager John Coughlin.

“I think the shape of the team has really helped. Teams aren’t getting in behind us with the system we’re playing and the personnel that are in there.

“As long as we continue to do well with set-pieces and crosses in to the box, which we’ve been doing and continue to work hard and get to those second balls, it doesn’t look like we’ll concede.

“You have to take every game it comes, but personally I think this system suits the way I play too. I’m always the last line of defence and I do a lot of covering.

“So it comes down to the bread and butter, as long as I win my headers and get to the ball first, I’m pretty happy.”

It’s clear that Fairbairn rates his boss, and he registered his delight that the club have opted to extend Coughlin’s deal until 2018 on a full-time basis.

“John’s been great since he came in. He identified the players and the system he wanted in place quickly, and he also identified the players he didn’t want quickly.

“Since he’s done that the results have spoken for themself. We’re up the top of the form table, confidence is high, we’re winning games and keeping clean sheets. There’s an energy in training, an energy in the changing rooms.

Milfield-based Fairbairn also earned the praise of his boss following Saturday’s game, Coughlin revealing he was impressed with the centre back’s attitude in a post-match interview with Eric Tait.

“I think you get captains who are vocal and captains who lead by example, and I think that’s what Jonny is,” said Coughlin.

“He’s not the most vocal, that’s maybe a criticism of him, but I don’t care. I just want my captain to go and do his job properly, and if he does well enough that he’ll drag the rest of the guys up with him.

“And that’s what he’s done today. His performance was excellent. You’ve got to remember Clyde are chasing the title, we’ve achieved what we’ve had to achieve and they’re a side with a big goal threat but Jonny and co stood up to that.”

On the win itself, Fairbairn confirmed confidence is high at Shielfield Park, declaring: “We’re going into games believing and thinking we’re going to win.

“We were maybe a bit disappointed after last week’s result, we never really got going and were a bit lethargic. But today was different. We responded well, we got the early goal and the flow of the game ended up following a similar one to our other games at Shielfield in recent times.”