Manager Post Brechin

05/07/11 JM:- "It was better tonight than it was on Saturday and it will be better on Saturday than it was tonight - that's the way it goes in pre season.

Jim McIntyre described the friendly against Brechin City as a very good workout for his team:-

"We stepped it up from Saturday and thought we played exceptionally well at times. I was really pleased with the tempo that we played at tonight. Obviously you can see some getting tired but we made a conscious decision not to make a lot of subs tonight and the boys who didn't play tonight will play on Saturday. It was a good 90 minutes for a lot of them and I was really delighted with the performance.

"At the end of the day all we are looking for is match fitness so that by the time the SPL kicks off we will be ready. These games are all about getting the rustiness out and getting the decision making better. It was better tonight than it was on Saturday and it will be better on Saturday than it was tonight - that's the way it goes in pre season. You get stronger, you get fitter and when you are fitter you make less mistakes."

The Manager gave no more clues on his opinion of the trialist right back that he fielded again for 55 minutes.

"He certainly didn't let himself down but I have no more to say about it."

Of more concern to Macca was the injury to Kevin Rutkiewicz. The centre back sustained a wrist injury just 30 seconds into the friendly:-

"He got a sore one on his wrist and we will need to get it x-rayed. Hopefully he has not broken anything and it was typical ' Dinky' that he played on with it. He is a hardy boy."

Turning back to the game the Manager agreed that his side had most of the territorial advantage in the second half and that should have yielded more goals.

"Buchanan got into a great position to hit the post and Cardle should have scored on the follow up. Then Kirk put Buchanan in and he should have scored. There were a lot of pleasing aspects tonight.

"It was a soft penalty but some you get - some you don't."