Stephen Kenny Post QOS

"Nevertheless it is a great win, the players worked extremely hard.... I'm not going to talk about turning points, basically we have to continue to work hard.

It was an extremely pleased Stephen Kenny who spoke to the press after watching his side register their first away win of this season's league campaign.

"We were glad to get the three points, every point is crucial. The difference between drawing and winning is quite substantial. We have won away, it was about time we did that.

"The two centre-backs were very good in the game and that gave us the platform for the clean sheet. There were periods in the game when we passed the ball very well, their was a period in the first half when we were very good and then I think we ran out of legs a bit.

"We were tired in the last 20 minutes.We have had four games in ten days including extra time against Hearts. The last couple of games have been tough even Ayr during the week and we have had to play with the same players. The fact that we have won our first away win of the season, we won away in the Challenge Cup but in the league its our first away win and we needed to win away. Thankfully we did so in the end."

Paul Gallacher's second penalty save for the Pars in eight games

The win was almost snatched away from Dunfermline when Queen of the South were awarded a penalty in the 89^th minute. Just for a very welcome change the Pars got the break with Paul Gallacher saving Stephen Dobbie's spot kick just as the full 90 minutes ended. Had the Dumfries side scored at that point there would have been very little time for the Pars to respond.

The Manager felt that it was never a penalty, claiming:-

"It was very very harsh.That is the sixth penalty that we have conceded and we have yet to get one.It's an interesting statistic, that's the way it goes I suppose. That save from Paul was even better than the previous one. It was a really outstanding save, crucial."

Stephen Kenny felt that perhaps Dunfermline should have had a penalty of their own when Jamie McQuilken tangled with Mark Burchill in the first half and not surprisingly felt that the penalty decision against his side was harsh.

"Nevertheless it is a great win, the players worked extremely hard. Nick Phinn hadn't really played for the first team but has come in and played in the last four games in ten days. He did really well for a young player. The back four have kept a clean sheet now for three games.The team will get better.

Tam McManus was rather pleased with his first league goal of the season

"I'm not going to talk about turning points, basically we have to continue to work hard. We have worked extremely hard for each other in the last few games.We have had different players out with injuries and they are at different levels of fitness. We have two weeks now to give us a chance to work on the players and get them up to the required level.

"We had a few chances in the match but Jamie MacDonald made some really good saves. That save when he came out quickly with Mark Burchill running on to Jim Hamilton's flick on and from Mark in the first half with his legs. Bar the early chance in the first minute,that was a bit of a scare for us, the only real one was a header from a long throw - it was supposed to be a flick on but it went on to the top of the bar. Apart from that we were OK I felt.

"With only one goal the game is always in the balance. We needed to get that second all elusive goal. I am just glad that we got the win that we needed this week."

The win puts Dunfermline in fourth place but still ten points behind leaders Hamilton Accies. The Manager knows that the gap cannot be allowed to grow:-

"We are looking to get to the halfway stage without too much of a points deficit.We know that we are not going to be leading at the halfway stage. Our second series of games needs to be better that our first and we need to get to the halfway point within touching distance. We will get stronger as the season progresses..

Reflecting upon Hamilton's late win after grabbing two late goals in their home match against Dundee, Stephen Kenny said "Hamilton have done remarkably well, they have some smashing young players."

Hamilton are the next opponents for the tenth league match of the season but maybe unfortunately given the roll that the team is on, that game is two weeks away. A win over them would reduce the leeway to seven points.