Managers post Ayr United

23/02/19: Link to audio of both managers post match comments

Pars boss Stevie Crawford was delighted to take all three points back to Fife, he told the media:-

“I thought we actually started the game really well. Then after that we had a twenty minute spell where Ayr caused us a lot of problems but again the pleasing thing for myself and the staff is that we managed to get through that period.

“Ayr United were causing us problems in wide areas. We saw that out but they were lively at the start of the second half for ten minutes then I thought we got a hold of the game.

“It was a decent move to get in behind, decent football. Joe (Thomson) played one over the top, Ryan (Williamson) played the ball in as we had three people in the box backing and we ended up getting a penalty kick from it.”

Louis Longridge has only been on the park five minutes when he lined up to take the penalty kick, Stevie continued:-

“I anticipated that he was going to go on and take a penalty kick but Aidan (Connolly) has not played a lot of games this season. We started him off as a striker but because they were causing us bother we decided to drop him in just off Bruce (Anderson). Louis can play that position naturally so we got to that stage in the game where we thought Aidan had given us his lot and decided to put on fresh legs.”

The manager explained how Ryan Williamson started despite Jackson Longridge being named on the team sheet:-

“Jackson unfortunately felt a knee problem during the warm up. He was down to start the game but Ryan Williamson came in and James Craigen, who has just about played every position this season, went to left back.

“Credit to James because Ryan is a natural right back and we thought that it was only right to keep Ryan in his natural position. Rather than have Ryan playing left back and James Craigen playing out of position as well. That was the reason for that switch.”

For the second week running Dunfermline had to see out a 1-0 lead to earn a victory. Was it more comfortable than last week?

“I don’t know if it was comfortable. Coming down to Somerset Park as a player is never easy. The pleasing thing for us is that we came through that twenty minute spell in the first half where in previous weeks we might have buckled under it.

“Credit to Ayr, I thought they threw everything at us in that spell. Then we are delighted to go up the road with three points.”

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