Notman pleased with return to action

Notman featured for the first time in almost six months.

Midfielder Steven Notman was pleased to be back in first-team action on Saturday after coming off the bench to feature in the 1-0 win over Queen’s Park.

The 28-year-old hadn’t played for the ‘Gers for almost six months – his last game was the 2-0 over Montrose on March 21 – due to a troublesome knee injury, but now feels as though he is ready to ease his way back into the fold.

“I was a wee bit surprised to get the call to play to be honest,” admitted Notman. “The gaffer gave me a shout on Thursday because he and David [Banjo] were both struggling and Ross Graham was away with work so to play 30 minutes was a surprise but it was great to be back involved.

“I’m totally ahead of schedule in my recovery and everything’s felt fine. I had a wee mishap a couple of weeks ago and felt it a bit when I came back into training – maybe I did a bit too much too soon – so I’ll be looking to play another 45 minutes or an hour on Tuesday night for the Development team and we’ll take it from there.”

As for Saturday’s match, where Notman replaced David Morris as manager Colin Cameron was forced into a change in formation after the team struggled against ten men, he believes that the win was all that mattered and is happy with the start the ‘Gers have made to their Scottish League Two campaign.

“When we got into the changing rooms after the game, Jason [Dair] hit the nail on the head,” said Notman. “He said that last season, we were miles the better side in lots of games but only came away with a point or nothing, whereas today was totally different.

“At the end of the day, three points is three points so we’ll take it and move on and overall, I’d say we’ve made a pretty decent start. From the amount of points that have been up there the past few years, you’re talking two points per game so 10 from five games is not bad at all really.”

By Martin Inglis