Spying mission to Stranraer
Saturday, 16th Nov 2019All in the cause of not coming up the Clyde in the banana boat
Stevie Crawford and Jason Dair will make the 250 mile round trip to take in Stranraer’s home game against Airdrieonians on Saturday. The effort will be all about ensuring that when they return the following Saturday, Dunfermline will win their Scottish Cup tie and progress to the next round.
The Fifers do not want to go out to a League One side and be part of a cup upset. Stevie said:-
“The Scottish Cup is all about banana skins. Our focus will be solely on trying to progress to the next round. We had someone watching them and doing a match report on them at the weekend when they lost 3-1 to Raith Rovers. We will be fully aware of what we are going into.
“Being at home, Stranraer will fancy their chances. It is a difficult place to go but we have got to go down there with confidence.
“We created chances at the weekend, no one can take that away from us. Their keeper Jamie Macdonald made a couple of great saves. There were a couple of efforts on goal when boys have thrown themselves in front. There were a couple of other ones when boys could have finished better.
“It is not as though we are going down there struggling to score goals but it is not going down there with an arrogance just because we are in a league above them, we have no divine right to go and win the game.”
With the Pars match at Ayr postponed due to the international call up of three of their players to the Scotland U21, Stevie talked Jason Dair into accompanying him to Stair Park. He recalled:-
“I think over our playing career, myself and Jason when we were at Raith Rovers we went down there a few times. It is a double header for us - we can go down there and watch Stranraer but we can go and watch Callum Smith as well. He is doing well at Airdrie and we have watched him a couple of times when we have had a couple of free weekends.
“When I was at the Raith Rovers Hall of Fame event on Sunday night, wee Micky Cameron who has gone in as assistant at Airdrie jokingly said ‘you will be coming down to watch Callum’.”
The Pars manager has given his players Saturday and Sunday off and he feels that it is important to be consistent with them:-
“Gone are the days when in defeat you just turn round and say that you are not getting days off. We tried our best to put up a monthly, or couple of months ahead, schedule. The only time that ever changes is the likes of the Ayr United scenario where a fixture gets changed. We just try to be consistent with them, it is not punishment for getting beat.”
The team will travel down to Stranraer on the morning of the game and get pre match down there.
“As long as you win the game, whatever you do on the day is right. Do you travel right down and have no pre match or go down and stay the night before? We just feel that by going down on the morning, allowing for hitting traffic and have a pre match at twelve o’clock is the best preparation for the game.”
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