Assistant Manager post Montrose

25/03/23: Link to audio of Dave Mackay’s post match comments

It was assistant manager Dave Mackay who spoke after the 3-1 win over Montrose, he was pleased wit( the win and the performance but felt that his side’s first half was better than their second:-

“We had built up a couple of goals lead in the first half and then obviously we extended that early in the second half. They had nothing to lose at that point. They ended up throwing loads of boys forward, they are very direct and they are a physical team. You expect to deal with a lot of long balls and crosses into the box.

“On the whole I thought that we defended them well. Deniz didn’t really have too many saves to make so overall it is pleasing because it is a difficult place to come, the pitch is awful, the weather is not great and the boys stood up to a physical challenge which is what we asked of them at the beginning of the game.

“We know they were the only team who have beaten us so far so we had that in our heads. We knew that if we didn’t turn up they were capable of beating us. Thankfully today the boys turned up and showed what they are all about.”

Lewis’s McCann’s opening goal in 22 minutes helped?

“Definitely. Lewis has had to bide his time recently to get into the team but he came in today and makes an impact. He scored the first one and had the shot that the goalkeeper tips on to the bar before Craig Wighton’s goal.

“He is a player who when he is on his game, he is real real handful and a really good player. He dips in and out of games but sometimes young boys will have that little bit of inconsistency but he is a massive asset for us when he is on it.”

You made five changes for this game, that shows the strength in depth of the squad?

“That’s the thing. At the minute our squad is really strong. We are missing Rhys Breen who has been outstanding for us all season. Matty Todd is out injured - he never quite made it, it was touch and go most of the week but we felt it was better to leave him an extra few days. He will be alright for next week.

“It is a squad at the minute where we can make changes that certainly doesn’t weaken us. The changes are made depending on the opposition, where we think we can hurt teams and where we might be a little bit stronger off the ball. Every game we look at individually. Today we felt that was the best team that suited against Montrose and it showed.”

The scenes at the end were of great appreciation to the fans, Dave continued:-

“Of course. It was a four o’clock kick off up at Montrose when Scotland were playing so the turn out was brilliant. The fans have been outstanding all season, they have followed us everywhere. The home crowds have been outstanding but away from home the following that we have had and the backing that we have had has been different class. It is important that we show our appreciation of them as well.

“It costs a lot of money travelling a long way from home so we really appreciate their backing and it is important that we go over and show that.”

You mentioned Rhys Breen, is there much hope of him returning?

“I don’t know. He will get a scan and then we will assess it. Obviously there is not too much of the season left now in terms of weeks and sometimes these hamstring injuries can take a little bit of time to heal. The last thing you want to do as well is try and rush them and end up with a setback and potentially missing pre season etcetera. We will manage him and he is in good hands with the medical department that we have got here. We’ll see how it goes.”

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