Managers Post Clyde

"I thought we had turned the corner a little bit, but today is a setback for us. You can't deny that, we have to be honest it was one we were capable of winning.

"First half we were second best." began Stephen Kenny, "Clyde set their stall out 4-5-1 to stifle us in midfield, their game plan worked for them.I was very disappointed how the team can go from playing, with more or less the same team - just one change from last week when they outplayed Dundee for a lot of the game to struggle today is disappointing.

"Again we went 4-3-3 in the second half, we looked dangerous, had a couple of chances to equalise but didn't take them, then Clyde got their second goal.We got one back but it wasn't enough.

"I'm disappointed with the start if we had won we would have gone third.St Johnstone are one of the favourites for the league, they are two points ahead of us but today was very unsatisfactory.  I was disappointed with the game itself. We have to do a lot better than that, albeit we have a lot of defenders missing. We had two central midfield players playing fullback and a full back playing centre back, but nevertheless we should have done better than we did."

Pars players watched on with concern

Asked how he was now looking forward to the CIS Insurance cup tie against Hearts on Tuesday night.

"It is really at the back of my mind, we want to do well in the League. As a manager I am disappointed with the performance, very disappointed. Domestically we have won three and drawn three of our last six but two of those wins were in the Challenge Cup.

"We were on a bit of a run though in relation to that, we played well against St Johnstone and Dundee, drawn those games while playing good performances.Today was sub-standard.

"The first goal was at least several yards off-side.The player went in first of all and then came out trying to stay onside and ended uprunning on to it and finishing it. So he was well offside but nevertheless I won't use that as an excuse, we have to do better."

It was suggested to Stephen Kenney that his players seemed to have failed to adapt to life in the First Division, he replied:

"I can make excuses all I want but sooner or later we need to get our finger out sooner or later.

"I can make excuses about fellows adapting and there is probably a lot of truth in that as well, but it is not good enough to shrug your shoulders. You have to be made of sterner stuff than that and apply yourself with more conviction.

Stephen Kenney gave an update on the condition of his goalkeeper Paul Gallagher who was injured and had to be substituted early in the second half by Sean Murdoch.

"He has several stitches in his jaw in a place where it was unable to be stitched at the time. There was a lot of blood and it was inside his mouth, it was not the easiest place to stitch.

"It's a very poor result, we can speak about missing a lot of our back four, but still we had an experienced enough team that were good enough to do well and get a result here so I am very disappointed."

Then asked what could be done to turn this around the Manager said:

"Having lost the first two, the last few weeks we have played quite well.With ten men we beat Stirling, it was a good performance.We played well against St Johnstone and Dundee, we drew the two games, we won here 4-1 and two nil the other night, but then today was sub-standard.

"They pressed on to us very tight, flooded the midfield, couldn't get a passing game going and it worked for them.Getting the goal and having something to hang on to and hitting us on the counter-attack. Fair play to Clyde, we have to get our finger out and do better. What we did and the way we performed wasn't good enough, just wasn't good enough on the day. I expect a lot more.

"I thought we had turned the corner a little bit, but today is a setback for us. You can't deny that, we have to be honest it was one we were capable of winning. Clyde didn't give a lot away, but we need to be more creative and have better instincts than we showed."

In contrast Clyde's Manager Colin Hendry was very happy with the three points that took his team off the foot of the table;

He said:

"When we are as strong as we can be and with a lot of organisation we are a decent team.I wouldn't say that we are the best team in the League but I certainly wouldn't say that we are the worst.What we do do is play t our strengths.

"It is a good victory and I have said it since Dunfermline played us in the Challenge Cup that they are the best team in the Division, but we worked very hard today to close them down in their deepest area.That is where they really hurt us last time by picking off players that were going to close the play down.I was delighted because I thought we deserved the win."