Jim Jefferies Post Hibs

15/07/14: JJ - "reputations won't get you in the team; it is going to be performances.

Listen to these Jim Jefferies comments post Hibs

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Jim Jefferies was pleased with his side's showing against Hibs on Tuesday night. It was just the type of game that he wanted for his players.

"Hibs have had two or three games already and didn't make their substitutions until late on in the game, they only made about three or four. We made nine and brought young boys into the fray there at the end and they never let us down. In fact I think we improved as the game went on.

"It was a great work out and there were some really good individual performances. Shaun Byrne had a good second half, Lewis Spence and Ross Drummond did well when they came on. Andy Stirling was excellent in the first half and big Gregor Buchanan at the back was solid."

Shaun Byrne

If there had been a Man of the Match award no one could have denied Ryan Scully that honour. JJ sang his praises:-

"Scully was just different class. He made a couple of saves in the second half due to mistakes. It wasn't due to Hibs cutting us up. Jonathan Page did not have the best of starts after coming on at half time. He got his feet in a tangle and let the boy go through, Scully saved it. The next time he lost the flight of the ball and the boy got through but Scully saved it.

"That is when to make mistakes when it doesn't matter. Get them out the way and get the rustiness out. There were a lot of good performances but the big thing for me is come the start of the season, if that's the way it is going to go there is going to be a helluva competition for places and reputations won't get you in the team; it is going to be performances.

"Tonight Ryan Williamson was excellent, so were Spence and Byrne then Josh Falkingham, considering he has missed a lot of the pre season with toncillitis, Andy Geggan has missed a lot - there were boys who didn't look at their sharpest but there were reasons for that because they have missed a lot of training. They will be buzzing very shortly when the season starts.

Ryan Williamson

"It is looking good for Dunfermline in terms of the squad. I feel that we are stronger. I felt sorry for Michael Moffat tonight. He maybe didn't get the support or the chances that he was looking for. He almost pulled it off near the end where he created a good save. I am confident that he will score goals, he showed some nice touches at times.

"Faissal (El Bakhtaoui) got injured tonight, Ryan Wallace wil take a wee while to get back to his best because of the time that he has been out. Allan Smith as well is recovering from last year's illness and niggly injuries so that is an area that we hope we can improve."

Faissal's injury came in six minutes when he tried to keep the ball in play and got caught on the astroturf strip at the side of the park. The Manager explained:-

"It was wet and slimey. The physio thinks that it is nothing serious but we think he will be alright in a couple of days."

The early injury meant an early substitution bringing on Ryan Wallace:-

"He was supposed to come on for just 45 minutes. He came on after seven minutes, had the whole first half and a wee bit more than we thought but that is the time to take him off when he is feeling alright. He has not had a lot of games and I think it will take him a few weeks but it is good to have him back. There is no doubt that between now and the start of the season he will get better, quicker, sharper and fitter.

"The squad is going great, we have had a decent start with the tournament at the weekend. There were some good performances and I thought that there were some good performances tonight. We got a result out of that tonight when Hibs were decent and looked sharp. They have some good experienced players, they are impressing their new manager. They had a lot to play for. It is a credit to us that with the number of changes that we made that we got a result in the end.

"It is not about the result, it is about what we get out of it. We got loads out of it tonight. For the players that was better than any training session."

Hibs manager Alan Stubbs praised Dunfermline for the competitve nature of the game. Jefferies was pleased with the compliment:-

"That is something that we have to instil in them. We are going to be a target this year for everybody because we are a full time club and a big name club. We know teams are going to be competitive against us so we need to get into a good habit. It was nice of him to say that because you need to be when you are playing against teams like Hibs or they will run over the top of you. That was a plus for us tonight and I thought we played some really good stuff especially in the second half.

"Near the end we were looking like we were going to score with a couple of great deliveries from free kicks and balls bouncing about the box. There should have been somebody on the end of them but we are saving them up for when it's right."

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