Greg Shields awaits Plan B

"We were written off in the League but we put a fight and people started to think Dunfermline would stay up. It's a huge blow.

Greg Shields at the end of the relegation battle that was finally lost at Inverness

Asked if the players and Manager were aware of the St Mirren score, Greg Shields said:-

"I think they were.  A few of them at half time knew that Motherwell were one nil up. I never knew until the end the result but other people on the bench knew the result. Personally I wasn't aware."

The mistake that gave Caley the equaliser was very uncharacteristic of their usually very reliable keeper:-

"It's very unlike Dorus to do that, he's saved us more times than he's let in goals this season.He's probably been one of the best players this season, so you can't point fingers. These things happen.It was just a mistake at probably a crucial point of the game. I don't think they deserved to win, even the second goal I thought was a foul on Owen Morrison. How the referee never called a foul I'll never know. That's luck anyway, the second goal was a deflection as well.In recent weeks we were happy with out performance but today it wasn't to be.

"We felt with 14 minutes to go we had weathered the storm, but it wasn't to be."

Asked how difficult it would be to get up the for the Cup:

"We've had a lot of knocks this season -going into the Rangers game way back ages ago we were pretty much down and out then but we clawed results back and it's the Cup that has catapulted our season to give us belief again that we could win. All you guys wouldn't have thought that we would have beat Rangers, Hearts and Hibs. We were written off every game and written off in the League but we put up a fight and people started to think that maybe Dunfermline would stay up.I think the Partick game was probably a banana skin that maybe Partick would upset Dunfermline. It'll be the same again, I think the last time we played Celtic they were 16-1 now they are 12-1, so maybe we're doing something right.

"It's definitely a bonus getting to the Cup Final and the revenue to that, but it's not my place to comment on the Club's finances, that will take care of itself, what will be will be. I don't know the finances of the Club. It's obviously a big loss to them but a good Cup run brings a lot of money to the Club as well."

In the Cup Final maybe but is this hard for a relatively new Manager?

"It's disappointing for the Manager, and everyone else in the backroom. He's come in and done a great job. We were 9 points adrift and he was the one that believed we could get out of this mess and we just about did it. I think he's done a great job. He's shown that we are playing a lot better. We have got a bigger squad as well. There were times when we sometimes had 11 or 12 boys fit now we have a squad of 30, 32 boys. He's put that right, getting in the right players and players with a bit of flair as well. I think he has put a lot of bums back on seats at East End Park and  I think he's a Manager whose job has got a plan B now. He'll be thinking what he is going to do now. He's very thorough in what he does and he's obviously disappointed like everybody else. It's a huge blow."

Can the team come back and win the Cup?

"I don't think its up the Manager to pick us up, we have got to show that we are strong enough to perform in two weeks time and be ready for that game. That will take care of itself that's two weeks away. In a couple of days it will probably sink in that we are relegated and training will not be the same this week as it has been in the last couple of weeks.

"The boys will rally together, it is a great squad, possibly one of the best squads I have been involved in here. It has turned around since Christmas when we went to La Manga. We have a lot of big players. There is a good mix in the squad and everybody can stay together."

Greg retrieves the ball after Dunfermline lost the lead at Inverness