Stephen Kenny Post Rangers

"We are not really in the business of looking for for moral victories from defeats. We need points."

Dunfermline Manager, Stephen Kenny said:-

"We are disappointed to lose the game. There was not much in it; we have played Rangers here at East End twice in the last couple of weeks and in both games there has only been a kick of the ball really in the game. It was a tight game, Rangers know they have been in a game but we haven't come out with anything.  That is the unfortunate part.

"The players are very disappointed and are appreciative of the Dunfermline support clapping the team off.  I said to the players that they realised the effort and commitment that the players had put in. We are not really in the business of looking for for moral victories from defeats.  We need points."

While admitting that goalkeeper Dorus de Vries had played very well the Manager was more concerned with a first half incident where he felt his team had been harshly denied a penalty:-

"Allan McGregor made a save just before they scored.  They scored a goal that we could have defended a bit better but the main thing for us was probably having one of the most blatant penalties not given.  The monitors confirm that Stephen Crawford is knocking it into an empty net and it is handled.  It stopped the ball going in. It was the most blatant of penalties but it hasn't been given."

Pointing out that Dunfermline had only been awarded one penalty (at Tannadice when Mark Burchill missed) in 28 league and cup matches this season, Stephen Kenny said:-

"We need these kind of things to happen for us.  Rangers in fairness had quite a few chances themselves, we were a little too direct, if I am being honest.  The absence of Stephen Simmons and Darren Young who have been in our midfield recently meant that we bypassed the midfield a little bit too often. It was effective enough at times when we were picking up balls.  Both Jim O'Brien and Adam Hamill had a bit of joy getting at the Rangers defence and putting in crosses. 

"We had quite a few chances at the end.  It was a strong finale but we just couldn't get the goal that we need."

Pars players appeal to Referee John Underhill for a penalty

Stephen Kenny agreed that his side had not really got any of the decisions that might have let them back in the game:-

"Scott Wilson is very adamant about Charlie Adam handling and Jim McIntyre seemed to blatently pushed when he had a free header near the end. The main one though was Stephen Crawford's one when he was knocking it into the empty net and the defender stopped it with his hand.  You can't get any more blatant than that, that's as blatant as it gets."

The Pars Manager conceded that David Weir had made a difference at the heart of the Rangers defence:-

"We had a lot of territorial advantage in the last twenty minutes, it wasn't as clear cut as we'd have liked and he probably had an influence on that.

"I am encouraged by the effort, the honesty and the morale of the players - their determination to galvanise performances.  We are a bit unfortunate at the minute that we can't score. I am not going to give hard luck stories or excuses.  We know that there are still a lot of games to play and we have to keep believing.  We are away to (Dundee) United next week, it is an important game for us and we have to go there and try and get a result."

Rangers Manager Walter Smith was pleased with the result:-

"We had to work very hard for that, Dunfermline worked extremely hard throughout the game.  Credit to their Manager that they are in the position they are in that they are still playing with that enthusiasm.

"We handled certain aspects of the game today better than we have done in previous games that Rangers have played in this season.  We had to defend very well.  There were a lot of balls played into the box and Dunfermline put us under pressure.  We handled that very well throughout the game.  It was a little bit disappointing that we didn't have slightly better possession of the ball.  If we had slightly more possession of the ball we would have created more opportunities.

"We had one or two chances but the goalkeeper (de Vries) had one or two really good saves and when you don't get a second goal you are always going to be under pressure at the end. We are very pleased to have won the game."