Managers post Raith
Monday, 10th Jul 201710/07/17: link to audio of both managers
AJ - "We need to improve dramatically, we have a long way to go ....
- - Allan Johnston post match comments
Pars boss Allan Johnston found the second half performance as the only positive to take out of the trip to play Raith Rovers at Starks Park on Monday night. He said:-
"The second half was much better, first half we started well and were probably the team on the ascendancy but then we lost a very poor goal. We just had to clear our lines and we tried to overplay. We lose the goal and that gave Raith a bit of momentum.
"You have to be strong when you lose a goal, you cannot afford to lose a second because the second is always important. That is what we need to learn from. Every time we lose a goal we look very weak."
Friendly or not a friendly the gaffer echoed the supporters disquiet about losing to your local rivals:-
"It is not good enough, you still don`t like getting beat. We need to improve dramatically, we have a long way to go but the only positive is that it is a pre season game."
Last season the poor start to the season was cited as the downfall of the season, so was the manager concerned about a possible repeat?
"We did well in pre season last year didn`t we. We did alright in some of the games in the League Cup but it is hard to tell how the season is going to go but we do need to get bodies in as well. You can see that we are really light and with a couple of injuries we are really stretched. Still with the boys who are playing, we should be a lot better than that.
AJ stated that he was looking for three or four players yet for his squad.
"Hopefully we are close with a couple of them but time will tell."
Before the weekend?
"I don`t know whether we can get them in before the weekend, it is not up to me. It is all about agents and players and clubs. It is not always up to ourselves."
The gaffer felt that his young substitutes - Callum Smith and Scott Lochhead did really well.
"It is good for them to get a run out as well.
Saturday sees the start of the competitive season with Elgin City the visitors to East End Park in the Betfred Cup. The manager confessed that Elgin will be a hard game but a good one to get pre season disappointment out of the system.
"Elgin will come with nothing to lose but we have got to improve. Massively everybody has got to do better."
So will the manager treat the Betfred Cup as an extension of pre season?
"We have not had many games because we have a small squad. We have not arranged a lot of games so it is still a build up to the league which we have said since day one but you still look to do well in the cup as well."
Nicky Clark was absent against the Rovers due to a niggling injury and David Hopkirk after a clatter he sustained in the friendly against Hibs. The manager lamented the bad luck of losing players in the same positions.
"We have just got to see how Nicky comes along, Hoppy should be back within the next couple of days. Declan McManus has not really trained much, he has just really come back. He got 60 minutes that will help him but you can see that we are a bit light upfront."
- - Raith manager Barry Smith comments
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