Manager on Thursday
Thursday, 14th Apr 202214/04/22: JH - “We have to try and concentrate on the performance and entertain our fans by getting forward on the front foot, taking the game to the opposition.
John Hughes is adamant that Dunfermline will have to be at their very best against Ayr United, reminding us that on any given day every team in the Championship is capable of beating each other:-
“Everybody has three or four players who you’d say would get in my team, everybody! Everybody has got a different style and it all about what happens on the day. If you are not at it then you will come unstuck.
“We have to try and concentrate on the performance and entertain our fans by getting forward on the front foot, taking the game to the opposition. If we can do that then hopefully we can get the result. It is not as easy as talking about it because you are playing against teams that are tactically switched on.
“The fans know what they have to do and I feel that there has been a real connection, especially at home with the fans. They get right behind the team, they get excited, so hopefully that will be the case on Saturday.”
The gaffer warned that his side cannot sit back and rest on its laurels, knowing that they comfortably defeated Ayr on their last visit. Come Saturday he said “you need to turn up and be ready to go.
“We are playing against an Ayr United team that is more than capable of beating us. In fact they beat us down there, we got a 1-1 draw on a terrible windy, rainy day and we weren’t great in the second half. The teams are very very close.”
Both Ayr and Dunfermline have matches against Partick Thistle and Queen of the South to follow but John wants to embrace what is at stake and concentrating on themselves and no other teams:-
“We concentrate on what we are doing, concentrate on our performance and if we perform even in defeat or in a draw I will be saying that’s everything that I’m after at my football club.
“The only reason that it is more significant is because the games are starting to run out. We have given ourselves a fighting chance. It was my job to come in here and try and improve it. I came into a good squad that was just lacking confidence and a wee bit of momentum.
“Sometimes you feel that you have turned that around but with three games to go we need to make sure that we are competitive and at our best starting with Saturday. We owe it to each other, we owe it to the fans for all the hard work that we have put in.”
On loan Liam Polworth missed the match against his parent club last Saturday and John Hughes is delighted to be faced with the conundrum of how his side lines up
“First and foremost he is a good and clever, clever footballer. We probably missed him on Saturday and that’s taking nothing away from Kilmarnock because they thoroughly deserved their victory.
“It has given me a little headache in terms of how do we shape it up come Saturday. I am quite sure Ayr United will be looking at how they shape up and that is what makes football intriguing. You can set up all the tactics and pick formations but it is what you do on the day. If you have a great belief in your own ability to go and perform. If we have more than them then we won’t be far away.
“If it is the worst game in Scottish football on Saturday and we scrape a 1-0 I would take it. That is why I never knock any other team or style, at this time of the season it is about getting results.”
Supporters Conduct Reminder
The home support has played a significant part in recent positive results and the club is grateful for this strong vocal backing. However, there have been several incidents at the Morton and Raith Rovers matches which breach league rules and break the country’s laws.
It is a reminder to all supporters that pitch incursions and the letting off of flares are criminal offences and bring the club in to disrepute. Please continue to give the club brilliant vocal backing against Ayr United but within the parameters of the laws.
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