Manager on Thursday

22/07/21: PG - “The players that I am bringing in are the ones that when the players see the quality, will push them that bit more.

Peter Grant felt that his players performed when the curtain was pulled back at East End Park on Saturday. He thought that they tried to do the right things and worked extremely hard and covered a lot of yardage on a very hot day on

“In training they have been doing the same again. That is the only way you can be, that is what you have to practise.

“When you show them and keep helping them and Kyle for instance sees the benefit of the extra work. The strikers also know that the ball is coming in with quality. They have got to get in the box and there were a couple of instances where some very good balls came in and they still weren’t in the box.

“There were some not across the front post, there were a couple of chances we missed and we think we have to get better at that. We are being greedy but it is fantastic when you end up with five goals. I think four of them came with assists from Kyle and one from Josh. It is great to those two because that is what they are working on to try and improve.”

The quality of the ball into the box is great for the strikers and Peter maintains that you have to have bodies in the box.

“Football evolves of course and you move with the times but certain fundamentals never change in football. You know that you have to get people in the box.”

The manager recalled the attributes of former Celtic and Scotland full back Danny McGrain calling him the greatest full back he ever play with:-

“Danny just hit areas and expected the strikers to be in there. If the strikers weren’t in there that was their fault.

“I keep re-iterating to our players that you have a desire to score, a desire to get the ball into the box and a desire to get shots away. Then you flip it round on its side and say what’s the defenders’ job?

“Defenders have to deal with it and that is why they have to get into positions quickly, it is not a jog back.

“People ask me ‘what day do you work on your defending and what day do you work on your attacking. I say every day because that is the game. If you are doing crossing and finishing, it is not just for the attackers. It is for the defenders to defend it.

“That is the way we try and work it and the boys are getting their rewards from it. They have to do their practice and we can put it together and implement it. We spent a few hours out in the sunshine which is great but when it gets cold and wet are you still willing to do that?

“Those are the days when you don’t run off the training pitch. It is always the ones who work harder and harder - the Renaldos and Messis - that is why they are at the top of their game. Nobody watches how hard they work in training putting their bodies through it. Why are we not doing that?

“You have to do that with good practice. Practice makes perfection and practice makes permanent. If you are practising poorly that is the way you will be on a Saturday. We lead them to it but they are the ones who need to drink it.”

Peter was pleased that his players were as disappointed as he was for losing a goal to Dumbarton on Saturday:-

“That shows you the sort of standard that they are setting themselves. In training you have to work extremely hard to score in training and defenders have to work extremely hard to make sure we keep clean sheets. It becomes habit forming. We were delighted that we scored five but it is a big disappointment that we lost the goal.

“There are going to be a lot of games where it is going to be tight. Those games are going to be so so important. You can dominate the ball as much as you want but get done by a setplay. I have found that to my cost over the last two seasons so I am very much aware of that.”

The week has been hot and hard for the Dunfermline squad as the manager puts great emphasis on training hard:-

“We train hard all the time, I think it is important. The boys have maybe been used to a second day recovery but medically it has been proven not to be that good.

“The bottom line is that we could be playing on a Tuesday night so why would I want to give them Monday off when you could be playing on a Tuesday. At the end of the day I don’t think that there is enough football at times.

“I think you have to go beyond at times because you get into a comfort zone thinking you’d better not go any further. I have a great staff here. You have to push the boys to the maximum and beyond.

“Every time you are in a match your concentration levels and your fitness levels have got to be up. We have to be the fittest with the ball and got to be the fittest without it. We do all our work with the ball so we have to work hard when the opposition has got it and get back as quick as we can.

“You should be working twice as hard to keep possession. It used to be when you won the ball back you took a rest but a turnover puts you away chasing again.

“You have to be fit and I think you can see by the way we play, it is no surprise to anybody that we get the ball and we play quickly. It is like a game of five a side game where the ball is never out of play. To do that you have to be fit.”

With Reece Cole (pictured above) and Kai Kennedy being signed Peter promised a competitive match on Saturday with everyone out to claim their place in the starting eleven for the first Championship match a week on Saturday at Morton:-

“I will not disrespect anybody as you can see by the team we have been trying to put out. We have a couple of knocks on top of that and we need bodies in, there is no doubt of that.

“The players that I am bringing in are the ones that when the players see the quality, will push them that bit more. As soon as the ones who think that they have cracked it are in the team you bring someone else in to make sure that they realise that you have to produce every week to stay in the team.

“As I said at the weekend, I’m hoping to get a group together where the most competitive games for us come on the training pitch. Now the injured boys are getting closer as well. That will make us stronger also.”

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