Assistant Manager on Friday

20/07/18: SC - “It is going to be a challenge for us. Our aim is to make sure that it is a challenge for them too.

With manager Allan Johnston off to a league manager’s meeting in Perth it was Sandy Clark who spoke to the media ahead of Sunday’s Betfred Cup tie at Dundee. He started off by giving his thoughts on the 3-0 win over Peterhead:-

“I think it is fair to say that for the first competitive game we are reasonably pleased by how it went. Peterhead have always been a strange team to play against, they are awkward, difficult, well organised and they have some good players.

“We did dominate the game for most parts. We would have liked to have scored more goals early on but at the end of the day if you had said 3-0 at the start you would have settled for that.

“Pre season is a necessary evil, everybody has got to go through it. The players don’t particularly like it, especially if they are maybe not as fit as they should be but everybody has to try and get up to speed and be ready to play.

“We are nearly there with that, we still have one or two behind - the two lads we signed from Dundee. The test comes in the next few weeks but we are happy with the way pre season has gone.”

Dundee won 4-0 away to Stirling Albion and will be a bigger test for Dunfermline.

“Sometimes against lower league opposition it can go fairly easy for you. Having worked in the part time game it is difficult for teams like the ones we are up against - Peterhead, Stirling Albion and Brechin City. They have guys away on holiday, guys who missed training and just cannot be there. They are big time catch up. There are a lot of relevant factors in it but we are aware that Dundee played well and got a good result.

“It is going to be a challenge for us. Our aim is to make sure that it is a challenge for them too. We are capable of doing that for sure.”

Sandy thought that if results do not go well for the top teams in the Betfred Cup group, and he considered Dunfermline to be one, then you put yourself under pressure:-

“It is brilliant for the smaller teams because they are not expected to win. They just go and use it as pre season. For the bigger teams that are expected to go through there is a wee bit more pressure. It is probably a wee bit early but like every other team we have planned for it, so we are ready for it.”

Sandy claimed that although there is always room for improvement and they are always looking to exploit loan situations, the squad is pretty well complete.

“If you look at the squad that we have got I think it is fair to say that we are healthy in every area and we have competition in every area. Tom Beadling is a longer term injury. There are one or two catching up as I said - Faissal and James Vincent. They are potentially big players so want to get those two back soon. We are looking alright and I am quite happy with where we are at the moment.”

Sandy Clark came through his A licence with Stevie Crawford, he knows him better than the manager knows him and he is delighted that he has joined the East End Park management team.

“I have known Stevie for a long time, I have worked with him when he was a player here and I worked with him at Aberdeen so I know Stevie inside out. He has done exceptionally well in his previous jobs and he has fitted in great.

“He has a great rapport with everybody round about the place. He played here and that doesn’t do any harm but he is wise enough to know that it doesn’t matter who you played for if you don’t get the results then things change.”

Faissal El Bakhtaoui and James Vincent are on loan from Dundee and even if fit, won’t feature. Stevie Crawford watched Dundee at Stirling and identified strengths and weaknesses from that game. Sandy said:

“We know a lot of their players because of your job, you are covering and looking all the time at all the clubs in Scotland. We know enough about them.”

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