Rivals Re-united

11/08/11: JM - "You play against a load of your pals in your career and you are desperate to get one over on them; it is the same as a manager. We will be going there to try and win the game.

While in the same Dundee United side from 2003 to 2006 Jim McIntyre and St Johnstone manager Derek McInnes were opinionated players in the dressing room. McInnes was appointed manager of the Perth club just a week before Macca was asked to become the caretaker manager at East End Park. In their managerial roles they last met in the First Division in April 2009 when McInnes was on his way to lifting the First Division Trophy. Last season the St Johnstone manager did Jim McIntyre a favour in permitting Kevin Rutkiewicz to come on loan so there was little surprise that the Pars gaffer was full of praise for his counterpart at Saturday's opponents:-

"We were rivals in the First Division and now we are back to rivals again. He has done a great job up there and you have got to look at the job that he has done. It is no wonder that he is getting touted for jobs in England with people approaching his club."

Jim McIntyre maintained that there are a lot of good coaches around and its not because he, Owen Coyle and Derek McInnes all played together:-

"Its just a slice of luck probably. Timing is everything; when managers lose their jobs an opportunity arises for you. A similar thing happened to Del; a manager moved on and there was an opportunity there for him. He has grabbed that with both hands and progressed. A lot of credit goes to him."

By his own admission Macca said that there was no way anyone could have predicted that he would have ended up in a manager's seat but he was impressed when at Reading under Tommy Burns and Alan Pardew:-

"If you ask anybody who played with me when I was 24 they would have said that there was no chance that he would go into management. At 24 I was a loose cannon and I would never had foreseen this myself. When I went to England I started to think things differently, noting down what was happening in training and then started my badges from 30 onwards.

"Game time is game time" so Saturday's match will be not different with it being against an old friend. "You play against a load of your pals in your career and you are desperate to get one over on them; it is the same as a manager. We will be going there to try and win the game. He will be doing the same and be desperate to get his first win. St Johnstone have had a tough start kicking off away to Aberdeen and then having Rangers at home but there are no easy games in this league."

After drawing their first two SPL matches Dunfermline are also seeking their first league win of the season. Macca reflected on how that didn't happen against Inverness last Saturday:-

"We were excellent in the first half, passed the ball exceptionally well and did the dirty side of it well. We were compact as a team which then allows you, when you do get the ball, to try and get your good players on the ball. We did that but obviously conceded poor goals. First one was unfortunate with the deflection but we can do a lot better before it gets to the point of the shot.

"We were slack from the kick off at the start of the second half; we didn't defend a throw in properly and they got a shot away. Before long it has deflected off a defender and into the net. If we had done the first bit correct then they wouldn't have got to that stage. We need to tidy up these kind of things.

"It is a learning curve; we scored three goals and anytime that you score three goals at home you expect to win the game. We never and you have to give Inverness credit for that as well. It was a good game although probably far too open for both managers liking. We were pleased with the way we performed and hopefully we can use that performance and take it on."

Every SPL manager feels that there are teams in the league that they consider possible three pointers. Jim continued:-

"You think that's a game that you could potentially win. To get anything from your Old Firm games is a bonus and if people don't like me saying that they need to wake up because those are the facts. There are two or three other teams with stronger sides, established SPL clubs for years. When you go away to places like Tynecastle you need to play out of your skin to try and get a result. Then there are others who you will fancy getting a result against."

The Pars injury list remains unchanged: out are Kevin Rutkiewicz, Nick Phinn and Steven Bell.

In other news Dunfermline drew 0-0 with Rangers in a 'bounce' game against Rangers in midweek.