Dunfermline Athletic

Manager on Thursday

Thursday, 14th Sep 2017

14/09/17: "St Mirren will come and have a go which will suit us as well.

Allan Johnston is keen to register a victory over St Mirren on Saturday and retake the leaders position at the top of the Ladbrokes Championship table.

"It is a great game to go into, they are obviously playing with a lot of confidence as we are. We still managed to score two goals away from home. We are scoring a lot of goals just now.

"They will bring a big support and so it will be a good atmosphere but that suits us."

The Dunfermline manager acknowledged the quality of players in the St Mirren team and said that he felt that Lewis Morgan is probably the best player in the league.

"I imagine that there will be a lot of big clubs looking at him. We have to make sure that he doesn`t cause us problems because he is the player who makes them tick."

The match will see Gavin Reilly return to East End Park for the first time since completing his season long loan from Hearts in 2016-2017.

"I brought Gavin here in the first place because he is a good player and he has a lot of pace. I`m sure that after last year not being as successful as he had hoped that he will be trying to make an impression."

So far this season the Pars have registered good home wins over Inverness Caley Thistle and Falkirk. The manager said that you have to make sure that your home form is good in this league:-

"There is not much between all the teams anyway. We have said that numerous times. I`m sure that they will not look forward to playing against guys like Joe Cardle with the form that he is in.

"St Mirren will come and have a go which will suit us as well. Hopefully that will leave us space to go and attack with our good players and create chances and score goals.

"But we are going to have to defend better than we did in the second half against Morton last Saturday. It is unusual because the majority of the season we have defended really well. We just have to make sure that we get back to basics.

"At 2-0 you should go on and win the game quite comfortably. Although we lost the goal right after half time we should still have responded better than what we did."

That first Morton goal came after a poor back pass from skipper Callum Morris. His manager commented that Callum had probably been one of the best players this season and such a mistake was not like him:-

"He has got everything to play at a higher level. He has got pace, he is a top player, he is the captain, he is a good talker and good organiser. It happens sometimes, even the best players in the world make mistakes. It is how you react and respond and that is the same for the whole team.

"The three goals were preventable. You don`t see very often a free kick getting moved up ten yards right to the edge of your box and they scored from that. I cannot remember that happening in my career. That is a first from me but it was a great finish (from Gary Harkins).

"The third goal was a bad mistake as well. We just have to make sure that we cut out mistakes. You can`t afford to make mistakes against good teams.

"We have to make sure that if you lose a goal that you are strong enough to handle that as well. We are a young team and still learning."

Jason Talbot has recovered from the injury that forced him out of the Morton match after just half an hour and he trained on Thursday. Michael Paton is likely to be out for a few weeks after hurting his knee in training this week.



Views : 3,635

Related Stories


Archived website
This website served as the official Dunfermline Athletic website from season 2006-2007 until season 2022-2023.

Stories, match reports and interviews for these seasons can still be accessed here.

The current DAFC website with up to date information is on this link https://DAFC.co.uk
DAFC Archives
Dunfermline Athletic Heritage Trust. Information on past players, fixtures, league tables and archives can be found at www.daht.org.uk
ParsTV
For Season 2023/2024 SPFL regulations mean that on a Saturday afternoon we have to offer a Subscription service for overseas viewers. This will either be a monthly or a yearly subscription (on a Saturday it is FOR OVERSEAS viewers only - some dates are exempt.) https://ParsTV.co.uk
  • /files/KiltCompany_280_2285.jpg
  • /files/pstwebsitead_0172.jpg
  • /files/youngpars_2016_9593.jpg
  • files/PF_logo_8205.jpg
Archives
2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998
1997
1996
1995
1991
1986
1979
1968
1965
1962
1961
1960
1957
1949

To top