News | Joe Chalmers at your assistance

`It`s not that I score many but I would actually rather be setting them up because that is what I`m there to do.

Anyone who missed the impressive title clinching 5-0 victory over Queen of the South will not want to miss the excitement of `˜Trophy Day` at the KDM Group East End Park. For the fans, the players and their families it`s going to be a celebratory day and none more so than two ever presents who booked a holiday to Lanzarote over the weekend of 15th April.

Pars midfielder Joe Chalmers enjoyed the win over Queens but did so in the absence of his wife, Brogan and their three year old son, Nolan. They had made the mistake of booking a Canary Islands holiday leaving Joe to share the joy from some 2000 miles away. Furthermore his other greatest fans his parents had also made arrangements to be away that weekend! He told the website:-

`The wife and the wee man, they go and follow me everywhere. The support from my mum and dad as well, it means a lot when you win and play well that you have people there watching.

`The only game they have missed was winning the league. They were away in Lanzarote so the wee man wasn`t happy at all. I`m hoping to make up for it this weekend. He is back and he is buzzing. It`s good to have them there every week.

`It makes it something special that he is there to watch me. He loves coming to the games, he knows every Dunfermline song that`s going. He is three but from the minute I get home he is always out the back playing football, it is relentless.

Nolan and Brogan were in Lanzarote, gutted to miss the game and Joe revealed:-

`They would never have booked this had they known`. My mum and dad had booked to go away that weekend as well so they missed it as well! They will all be buzzing this Saturday to make up for it.`

As well as watching almost every kick of the ball at Dunfermline it was Brogan who pointed out to Joe that he is League One`s leading player in terms of assists. BBC credit him with 12 but transfermarkt .com reports 14, he pinpointed the FC Edinburgh match as one of the contradictions:

`I knew that I had quite a few but I hadn`t been counting. My wife had seen something and she showed me. I hadn`t realised I was leading in the league. It should be more, I felt there was definitely one at the start of the season against FC Edinburgh. It should have been my only goal, I got into the back post and I managed to get in a shot that was going in. McCann tried to get out of the way but it hit off him and went in.`

Joe Chalmers was last on the scoresheet back in early November 2021 in Ayr United`s 2-2 draw against his former club Inverness Caley Thistle. Much as he would like to update that record, it is assists that satisfy him most:-

`It`s not that I score many but I would actually rather be setting them up because that is what I`m there to do. That is something that I take pride in - my setpieces and my passes are probably what I enjoy doing most in my football. I`m glad to set them up and play my part.`

His contribution has not gone unnoticed and he was rewarded with a new two year deal in February this year. Manager James McPake described his assists record as `incredible`:-

`He is just a really good footballer, a good football brain, great to work with and yet again another one who was excellent in that first half (at Airdrie). Then he showed the different side when we needed to battle for everything when it was eleven men v nine. All season he has been great and there have been moments in the season, the Airdrie game in particular down there where he has come off after half an hour.`

Joe has made 42 appearances for the Pars this season and only five of these were from the bench. The manager continued:-

`I only think that he has missed one game when available but was a sub and he missed one through injury. He is so consistent every day in training, let alone in games. His pass up at Peterhead for Todorov`s goal, his pass for Wighton`s goal on Saturday. He tries things and he gives the ball away because he tries things but I`d rather he gave the ball away trying things than playing safe to the side.

`He is too good a footballer to just be getting it and then giving it to someone else. We encourage him to try things but he has been excellent since day one. Genuinely a real privilege to work with, he is a great guy, he is a leader in his own way. Maybe you don`t see it on the pitch but he leads by example and in training by the way he trains.

`It was another really good assist and he will be chasing more. There are loads of wee things we are chasing come this weekend and that will be one for Joe if I decide to play him.`

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