Jim McIntyre Post Replay
Wednesday, 25th Apr 2007"We rode our luck at times, but in all games you need that, espec
Jim McIntyre was the Pars hero, scoring from the spot with just two minutes of normal time to go:-
"It was just one of those things.You either pick a corner or you decide early doors you are doing it.I decided if it was a penalty I was going to do it last week.I've done it on about five occasions now - that's it its over.I've done it three times for United and once before for Airdrie in the quarters against Partick, so I think that's it, enough is enough.I think I've rode my luck as far as I can."
Jim had every confidence despite the huge importance of the spot kick conversion:-
"It's something I've always liked doing.I'm not going to talk about how I do it, but it's over now.The most important thing is we won the game.
"If you do it correctly and he'll move and you'll score as long as you get enough height on it.That's the right thing to make sure you lift it and he can't get a trailing leg to it, but you're right you can end up looking the biggest mutt if you don't connect properly, so I was just glad to see it.It's not about the penalty it's about the way we defended as well.It was fantastic. I think Sol Bamba was just out of this world, the big man was superb. The first 20 minutes Hibs put us under some serious pain. We rode our luck at times, but in all games you need that, especially Cup games."
Every game until the end of the season is going to be like a cup final for Dunfermline, Jim switched the focus back to the SPL:-
"The drop is a totally different thing, but if you can't take a lift from the run we're on.Even our league form, I think we've won three out of our last four so we are on a wee bit of a run. All credit to St Mirren last night, I watched the game and thought they were different class, they deserved their victory.They are good honest pros and they are in the driving seat."
Jim McIntyre is a semi final specialist, his goals taking both Kilmarnock (1997) and Dundee United (2005) to cup finals.Last time a yellow card in United's semi against Hibs meant that he missed the cup final through suspension:-
"I think that was just as an important goal for Kilmarnock, they hadn't been there for a long time either and they were lucky enough to win it.This is special because I will get to play in this final and I missed out on the final two years ago, which because of the ruling Gary Mason will have to go through the same thing that I went through and it's horrible.Especially if you play for a provincial club you don't get the opportunity as the Old Firm boys.It's a scandal, if you get sent off in the semi final then fair enough you deserve to miss the next game, but it's such a hardship."
At one point this season there was a possibility that Macca would never play again but he paid tribute to his surgeon:-
"It's been brilliant, and a lot of credit goes to the clinic BUPA in Livingston who really saw me through.I had the operation when I had a disc removed from my neck and it was a dicey operation, and there were never any guarantees that things were going to go alright.Things have gone great."
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