Manager on Friday

29/04/11: JM "We all know what's at stake. Nobody is trying to play the occasion down; it is massive for the football club to get back into the SPL. We have a bit of a cushion but we want to do it this weekend.

Jim McIntyre knows that the outcome of this season's campaign is all in his team's own hands but he is confident that the three points required to secure promotion to the SPL can be won at Cappielow on Saturday:-

"We know we are good enough but if we ever needed a reminder, we know that Morton have beaten us twice and are a decent side. We will be showing them respect as we go all out to try and win the game. We don't want to have to see what's happening anywhere else; we will keep doing what we are doing and try and go and win a football match."

Morton won 2-1 the last time Dunfermline went to Cappielow and then in March, Morton put an end to the Pars unbeaten home record in the league. The Manager has been reviewing what went wrong and how after taking twelve points out of twelve last season, the last two meetings have yielded no points:-

"In the last game there were three individual horrendous errors that led to the goals we gave away - they really were presents. I think on the day Liam Buchanan could have had a hat-trick as well. We did a lot of things right but when you give goals away like that - and the times of the goals; one after three minutes and then one right after half time - you give yourselves a mountain to climb. It knocks the stuffing out of the players, out of the crowd, everybody.

"We have been very resilient defensively as a team in recent times and we need to continue to do that to give ourselves a platform to go on and win the game."

The players are really keen to get into the match, one that Macca predicted would be hard:-

"It will be a really tough match but the boys just want to try and get the three points because they know what it means."

Standing between Dunfermline and a win is a team that has been well put together by their boss Allan Moore, Macca praised his opposite number:-

"Moorey has done very well in his first season there. They are chasing a fourth place finish like we were chasing a higher finish last year or a higher points tally. He will be keeping his boys focussed, there are a lot out of contract as well and he will be saying to them to make sure that they keep it going right to the end. The carrot of a contract is there for them and it is also the highest Morton will have finished in a long time in the First Division. That will represent a successful first season for him."

With two games left Morton are in fifth place, one point behind Partick Thistle. They last finished as high as fifth in 1997-98 and fourth place would be their best finish since 1995-96, the year that Dunfermline were First Division champions.

"I am hopeful that we will take a few thousand fans down to Greenock. I would be really pleased because it is one of those old fashioned grounds."

With the weather forecast good for the Clyde coast everything is set up for a great atmosphere in Greenock but how was the Manager feeling?

"To be honest I don't feel any different leading up to this game than I have done in any other week, I see it as a game where we need to try and win the three points. I'm sure come tomorrow that there will be a few nerves there, as there always is before match days but I'll do what I normally do and channel them in the right direction to make sure the players are totally focussed.

"We all know what's at stake. Nobody is trying to play the occasion down; it is massive for the football club to get back into the SPL. We have a bit of a cushion but we want to do it this weekend. We know if we win it doesn't matter what happens elsewhere."

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