With two league games yet to play Dunfermline need one point to be absolutely certain that they will be playing the Championship next season but manager James McPake insists that his team will not be content to play for a draw:-
“We were a bit more content with the performance in terms of the individual and as a unit last Saturday compared to the week before but we want to build on that and want to finish the league campaign here with a positive performance and a positive result.
“It is the last home league game and we need to give the crowd something to get involved in the game and go away from the game pleased with the effort of the players. Strip it all back, the result is the important thing but I want them to perform well as well and get the result on the back of a good performance. It will be important to give the supporters something to go away with.”
Entertainment Expectancy
Many are happy if their team is grinding out results but immediately after last Saturday’s match James suggested that the goalless draw at home to Queen’s Park would not have been an enjoyable game to watch. However he did point out today that no one could complain about the attitude of the players or the application of the players, but do fans deserve something better?
“Yeah, when we are here they want to see us score goals. I think we created enough chances to do that last Saturday but ultimately we never put the ball in the net. It would be good to get them off their seats to get them excited, to get them walking away from Saturday’s last home league game happy with what they have seen on the pitch from a Dunfermline team.”
Saturday’s opponents Inverness Caledonian Thistle arrive occupying eighth place in the league and seeking points to lift them away from Queen’s Park who lie just one point behind them in ninth. For the second week running then the Pars will be facing another team that has everything to play for:-
“Yeah, they were on a good run of form as well and similar to their last game here when we hit the woodwork seven or eight times, they were very unlucky against Raith Rovers. It was a good performance and they had won two in a row before that. They are out of that play-off place at the minute and they are fighting to keep that gap or increase that gap. They would like to claw a couple of teams down with one game to go, so everything is on the line for them and we need to be aware of that.”
Pressure still on
It might take a bizarre, but not impossible, set of results to see Dunfermline finish ninth but the manager is going into this game aware of that in the background and keen to extinguish that situation materialising:-
“As long as it is not over, you are going into the game the same way you would. This is the first season in management where we have not been going for a league title, not been going for the promotion play-offs but I think that there’s always a pride there.
“Particularly after the Airdrie game, we had got ourselves on a decent run and we had given ourselves a chance of looking to get into the promotion play-offs but we were always very aware of what was going on below us. The players are aware of that, we’re aware of it, the supporters are certainly aware of it and I think that’s why there was a nervousness around last week’s game with Queen’s Park coming here.
“It was a pretty high pressure game, different from what we have had. We had a few of them last year when we were going for a league title with Falkirk coming here. It is different when you are at the front with a wee cushion when you are chasing but now we have teams chasing us so the motivation is still there. Even if it wasn’t we still wouldn’t be downing tools.”
Plenty to play for
“As I have said before, there is an expectancy at this football club, no matter what league that you are in, anytime that you are playing at home you have to perform. There’s a way of getting after teams, creating chances and this place can be good when it is like that. There can be moans and groans from the crowd when that is not happening.
“We agree with that. We work all week to perform on a Saturday home and away. We take big crowds away from home and when we are at home we always have a decent crowd in here. We need to turn up, we need to perform whether we were out of any fears or in limbo. Win the next two games to be wherever we are in the league but with no pressures of going down.
“You never waste a game of football, you never know how long or how many you are going to have. It is a pleasure to go on a football pitch, I genuinely mean that and we can’t let that go.”
Player Availability
James feels that this Saturday comes too soon for Craig Wighton (pictured above) and Aaron Comrie but he did not rule out a return the following Friday night at Ayr. Paul Allan will be in the squad and Malachi Fagan-Walcott is okay. Ewan Otoo has been out since sustaining an injury in the match away to Airdrieonians. There is a problem with the posterolateral corner in his left knee and Ewan will see a consultant in Glasgow on Monday. After that it will become clear whether or not the 21 year old will require surgery.
Reserve Cup Success
James said that he sees daily the potential in a number of the young players who lifted the Reserve Cup on Tuesday night with the 2-1 win over Livingston.
“Taylor and Jake Sutherland, Andrew Tod, Ewan McLeod, Sam Young and Liam Hoggan train with us every day. You earn the right to play not just through reserve games or in under 18s football, you need to produce in first team training and those lads are doing it. I’m really pleased with them and they certainly give you food for thought looking at them.
“The way we lost the final last season, it is easy to say now, but it has helped them. It is a sore one to pick yourself back up from, particularly when you are so young. Down at Kilmarnock we had a big crowd down there and there were expectations. You see the joy that they got on Tuesday night so they would have had all that in their heads, seeing Kilmarnock celebrate.
“They dominated the game and I don’t think 2-1 was a fair reflection on the game. They were excellent on the night. It was a really controlled, mature performance from a young group and I was really pleased with them. It is a big achievement for them and for some of them it will be the first thing that they have ever won. It could be their highest level win in football, I don’t think that you can overlook it or undermine it in any way by saying that it is just the Reserve Cup.
“I was particularly pleased that it was that young group and a lot of them had played in last year’s final as well. That adds to it for them and I’m delighted for them, the coaches, all the parents and the fans that went there because you could see how much it meant. That’s the times in football, no matter what age you get to or what level you play at, in that moment that is your biggest achievement. I’m delighted for all of them.”
Above: Liam Hoggan, Ewan Hoggan and Jake Sutherland with the management team on signing their contracts earlier this season
