Manager on Thursday

12/04/18: “The last thing you want to do is underestimate Brechin. They have been really unfortunate this year,

Allan Johnston looked back on last weekend’s 2-1 win over Falkirk and told the media on Thursday:-

“It was a brilliant result in a game that you want to win. Every game now is massive between now and the end of the season. We have three huge games left, two are at home so it is a really good opportunity but one thing that we are not doing is taking anything for granted.

“I have been involved in football long enough to know that you cannot get complacent. Every other team is pushing for that play off place as well. It is all about us, we just have to focus on ourselves and not rely on other teams getting results, looking at their fixtures, who they are going to beat and how many points they are going to get.

“Results in midweek didn’t go our way, it is incredible when you look at when the goals were scored! You cannot get it both ways, the results last weekend all went our way. We just have to make sure that we do the job, get the results that we need and then it is in our own hands.

“We have got ourselves in a great position and it needs one final push to get there. When we set the target at the start of the season, that is where we wanted to be. We want to finish as high up as possible.”

He added his praise for the Pars fans for their support at Falkirk, “they got right behind the team and I hope that it is the same at the weekend. I am sure that they will turn up in their numbers.

Brechin City will arrive at East End Park still in search of their first league win of the season but AJ claimed that they would be approaching it like against any opponent- “it is a game that we have to win.

“It is a right good opportunity but we know that Brechin are playing without any pressure. They had a really tight game last week against St Mirren so we know that we are going to have to go out there and put a performance in.

“On paper it is possibly the easier one but in this league I do not think there are any easy games. The last thing you want to do is underestimate Brechin. They have been really unfortunate this year, they have not picked up many results and have not a lot of points. But there have been a lot of games where they have got right to the wire.

“We need to make sure that we start right, get the goals we need and hopefully move on to the next one.”

The manager stressed that his side had only lost three times in the last sixteen league games and two of those were against St Mirren.

“We are not losing a lot of games, we are not losing a lot of goals, we have started creating chances and scoring goals but we went through a period of picking up too many draws.

“We are in good form just now and have a bit of momentum. If you look at the results recently and the performances lately, the boys are looking forward to every game. They are playing with a lot of confidence just now.”

Team selection has been the same now for the last seven games and the manager feels that will be challenged by players returning from injury.

“Joe Cardle has a bit of quality, big Jean-Yves M’Voto was on fire when he was in the team and is really unfortunate to find himself out of the team. That will push us to make sure that we get performances week in week out because you cannot afford to slacken off.”

On the injury front there is a doubt over Tom Beadling who sustained a thigh injury at Falkirk. There are a few niggles elsewhere in the squad but the manager is hopeful that those will all be gone by the weekend.

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