Managers post Partick Thistle

26/02/19: Link to audio of both managers post match comments

Despite it being three wins in a row Stevie Crawford claimed that his side’s third successive clean sheet in a row was the thing that pleased him most.

“It maybe sounds odd coming from an ex striker that is the first thing I can say. You can see now that there is a real discipline about the way we are going about our performances.

“The first half was probably not a pleasing spectacle to the eye but in terms of the way we are asking them to play, the way we are asking them to counter, they are doing things right, doing it to a man and restricting teams to opportunities and then when the game opens up a wee bit I thought we looked lively.

“Bruce probably had the best chance for us in the first half. He has been really unlucky, he just pulled it wide of the post but the first goal was a striker’s instinct, well both his goals actually. He has read where the ball was going to land in the six yard box.

“You know his smile at the end when he came off says it all. He is down here to score goals for us and we are thankful that Aberdeen have loaned him out to us because he is going to be a right good player.”

Asked if that might have been a rueful smile since he was on a hat trick, Stevie replied “it did cross my mind but he had given us his lot as has every player and if he is in there not happy with me I will accept that if he is going to score two every week!

“You get the confidence from Bruce scoring the first goal. It is pleasing to go and get the second and third goal. That is one thing that we have been struggling to do this year and it is really pleasing that it has happened.”

Asked about the uneventful first half, SC said:-

“I am not wanting to be critical of the boys in terms of passing the ball because you have to be brave. That is when you are playing stray passes here, there and everywhere. You have to keep committing yourself to getting on the ball.

“We tried to hurt Partick in wider areas and if our passing had been better we would have got overloads in the wide areas. It didn’t come off in the first half but the pleasing thing there was that we really restricted Partick to chances.

“Partick are a good side, they have been on a right good run of form. We get a lift, the supporters got behind us when we get the first goal. Gary (Caldwell) has changed his shape during the second half so we then decided to go with two upfront because we felt the game opened up a little bit, to be more of a threat up top. As I say it has paid off tonight.”

Two of Dunfermline’s goals came from corner kicks but Stevie was not willing to take the credit for it, much as he would have loved to:-

“With Callum and Greg we discussed a couple of corner kicks and I have to give them the credit for that. They have been great since I came into the job and it is something that we have worked on the training ground yesterday. When they come off it is a nice feeling.”

Bruce Anderson grabbed a brace but central defender Danny Devine notched the other. SC added:-

“It is a team game and it will be good for Danny to hit the net as well. We pride ourselves, defenders and goalkeepers, on clean sheets. I can only thank the boys - we changed it up a bit tonight, boys who started the last couple of games were left out. I thought their reaction when the6 came on the park was different class.

“The boys who haven’t been getting game time came in and did a job. That is pleasing.”

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