Manager Friday Lunchtime

20/02/09: Ross County "like to pass the ball and they have good footballers in their team. They have Dyron Daal upfront who can cause problems and it will be a difficult game.

Having trained on both Thursday and Friday, Stephen Glass returns to the squad for Saturday. Although he has been out since the Scottish Cup tie against Clyde on 10th January but he is such a key player for the team that Jim McIntyre will probably feature him at some stage against Ross County.

Kevin Harper was in the squad for last Saturday's game at Partick but after feeling his calf in the warm up Alex Burke took his place on the bench. Scott Thomson took a knock on Tuesday night at Airdrie and the Pars boss described his chances of making the match as 50/50.

"We are starting to get a few back and we are going to need them. We have got seven games from the 28th until the 21st, so we will need the full squad. Touch wood we don't pick up any other injuries."

The quick succession of games may be a real endurance test but they are also seen as a good opportunity:-

"If we can get on a winning run, sometimes the games coming thick and fast can be a good thing. It is only a good thing if you are winning. You don't feel tired when you are winning and it is not an issue."

Ahead of the home match against Ross County, Jim McIntyre recognised that his opponents are a good footballing team. There was no match to have them watched in last weekend but Macca watched them against Clyde:-

"They like to pass the ball and they have good footballers in their team. They have Dyron Daal upfront who can cause problems and it will be a difficult game. In the game we played them here they played really well in the first half but we beat them 3-1. They didn't quite have the cutting edge on that particular day but they were a good side."

Macca has warned that if his side are to have any hope of promotion this season they must improve on their home form where they have won only four of their 12 matches.

"I have said it several times that you have to break it down and look at individual games. The last game (against QOS) we had two good chances to score but never took them, they took their's and it was game over.

"There have been other games, against Airdrie for instance when for the first 45 minutes we were terrible. If we got that same performance every week I would be really worried. Take Dundee, we hit the post twice and they were never in the game until they scored in 70th minute; we got beat.

"Look at the game against Morton, Stephen Glass had a goal disallowed but it was never a foul. Goals change games."

The Manager feels that there can be negative effects on confidence the longer the poor home form goes on:-

"Look at the first twenty minutes of the last home game and the last twenty minutes of the second half - in both we created chances, played well and we were right in the game. We didn't take our chances and Queens took theirs and got a huge lift. That's just the way the game went.

"The reaction after the second goal was really poor, there was total deflation. But we have had two great results back to back and hopefully we can take that confidence into Saturday and get a result."

Those two games at Partick and Airdrie saw five goals hit the opposition net with Steven Bell, Andy Kirk, Rory Loy, Graeme Holmes and Graham Bayne all on the scoresheet. Macca thought that there could have been more goals in those matches:-

"We had several opportunities to go and kill the game off at Thistle and we had the same at Airdrie on Tuesday night." He described his decision to bring in on-loan strikers as a 'bit of a gamble' but he felt he was well covered in defence with three central defenders:-

"I thought adding them to what we had would let me shuffle the pack a bit. In the fullness of time we will see if we get away with it. It is proving alright just now."

The Manager discussed the possibility of losing his influential captain come the end of the season:-

"Scott Wilson has an offer to go to Australia and it is one he is considering. He will be here until the end of the season regardless of what happens. That's the way it is.

"He is a top professional and has the chance of a career move to sunnier climates. Scott is totally focussed. He has five years of service here and he is not thinking of anything other than trying to get us promoted and hopefully get a wee run in the Cup.

"The bottom line is that it is his decision to make at the end of season when he will be out of contract."