Players important says Stephen Kenny

"A semi final is something they should look forward to, something they should enjoy really.

Sunday's Scottish Cup semi final will be the biggest game in the career of several of the Dunfermline players. While their Manager Stephen Kenny has a spectacular success record in Irish Cups, he is keen to focus the attention on those who will be charged with taking Dunfermline to their second Scottish Cup Final in three years. He emphasised:-

"Football is about players that is one of the things as a coach that you have to understand. I understand that and that is why I have done OK in the past and hope to do well in the future. It is about players; utilising them in the best way possible and maximising their potential.

"A semi final is something they should look forward to, something they should enjoy really. They say that semi finals are tension filled and that they are never the best matches but you shouldn't really be fearful. People strive for so much in terms of sacrifices they make to get where they are in their careers, personal sacrifices and all the effort that they put in so that when they come to games like this they can enjoy, be fearless and put in a level of performance that will make them proud for themselves and their families and the club that they represent. That has to be the way we approach this, one to absolutely enjoy.

"You do not get too many opportunities in your life to do things like that as a player. Particularly players who would be in mid table for a lot of their careers. It is an opportunity that has to be grasped when it is presented to you. That is our intention."

Has Stephen Kenny had time to dream of what is still possible in this season and what he could do if relegation was staved off?

"Realistically if you are nine points down with seven matches to go and you pull off staying up, with the team we have, I feel would have more potential than a lot of teams in the bottom six. If we could stay up and get a proper pre season and build on that I would feel confident. But the problem is, if you get relegated trying to keep it together. It is a difficult task so the big challenge is to try and stay up.

"Getting to the Final I view differently. You don't marry the two. You say well if to get to the Final you have to beat Rangers, Hearts and Hibs and then to win it beat Rangers, Hearts, Hibs and Celtic probably. It is unlikely that it has been done before. It is unlikely that it has ever been attempted but we won't get ahead of ourselves. Hibs are the overwhelming favourites, just because we won at the weekend I will not try and sweet talk ourselves up. I am being realistic.

"I was at the CIS Insurance Cup Final and it was good for me to see that because it helped me last weekend. It will help me this weekend I am sure. They (Hibs) were excellent on the day and I enjoyed, as a spectacle, the game itself and the atmosphere was great.

"You can win two in a week like that. You can do that. There is nothing to say that we couldn't go and win but we are not trying to talk ourselves up and say we are this and we are that. We are bottom of the league. Hibs have done very well; they have international players and players making a real name for themselves. We will have to play to our full potential to get a result."

The Manager was keen not to concern himself too much about Hibs and their reported unrest in the dressing room:-

"I wouldn't see that as anything to do with us. You hear about these things but for us it is about ourselves. I am more concerned about us and us improving as a team. Getting more ambitious in the way we think about games. It is easy to say that but to try and deliver on that. Motherwell was disappointing for me last week but apart from that we have been quite decent over the last couple of months. We have been struggling up front; Tam McManus has injected a bit of vitality into that frontline but he is cup tied this week. There is more than one way of playing and we consider what way we will play and see on the day."

The style of play that Stephen Kenny's team has produced has won admirers especially the attacking flare that is not normally associated with a team that is bottom of the league:-

"You hear people saying that regardless of whatever, they will stick to their principles but in the last five minutes of a game you are winning you get the ball out of the ground, up in the stand. We are looking to get better and you wouldn't play one up with ten behind the ball at all times. You might get a draw and nick something one week but are you going to progress? You get punished but still you are getting better but you have to make sure that you do not run out of games. That was the way we viewed it when we came in. We have only really played one up once against Celtic away, we are trying to play with four attackers but I think if you play that way over a period of time you gradually get better and your results should improve if your players are good enough.

"As a Manager if you continually pack the midfield every week, you might edge a few draws and you might get an odd win. Your team is not going to progress nor will they have much confidence in how they are going forward. That is just my own view, there is no right or wrong."