Managers Post Aberdeen

07/03/09: JM - "That's three times we have met Premierleague opposition this season and I think we have given a good account of ourselves each time.

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Jim McIntyre was in good form after holding SPL Aberdeen to a draw in the Quarter Final of the Homecoming Scotland Scottish Cup. It was a match he described as "lively":-

"Aberdeen deservedly took the lead after great pressure from the start of the second half. We changed the system about and had to make an enforced change at the start of the second half."

That meant Andy Kirk replaced Graham Bayne in 62 minutes.

"What a day Graham Bayne has had today; he has stitches on his tongue and stitches on his eye. His eye is practically shut but that is Graham Bayne for you - he gives everything for the cause.

"I thought the character they showed, the determination when we changed the shape was fantastic. It is alright changed shapes but at the end of the day they are the players who have to go and carry it out and I thought they were excellent.

"We definitely merited an equaliser. The first half was fairly even; we started it better and had the better goalscoring opportunities in the first half. We had a great chance from the corner that we had worked on and from Graham Bayne's header. These were two real good chances. We had a corner in the second half again and Jamie Langfield got a great hand to it. On the chances created then we definitely deserved an equaliser."

Playing into a swirling wind, Aberdeen fairly hit Dunfermline in the opening twenty minutes of the second half. Macca said:-

" I wasn't surprised because I knew Jimmy wouldn't be happy with them. I told the boys to expect them to come right at them and you need to go and meet that head on. You expect that, they are a quality side and I knew their Manager wouldn't be happy with their performance. So the players were made aware of that but we found it difficult when they pegged us back. I just felt that we got a bit stretched in that first twenty minute period at the start of the second half.

"They were starting to dictate play and we were under the cosh but as I say we responded in the right manner after the changes and we started to get a foothold in the game again."

Jim McIntyre was asked if we thought the same delivery that created chances in the match could create similar problems in the replay.

"You can work on corners and set plays all day long but delivery is key. If the delivery is good on the day you will always cause problems. Look at Charlie Mulgrew's delivery - it was fantastic."

The Pars gaffer laughed off the suggestion that the master plan might have been to take the cup tie to a replay given the Pars great away form.

"Here's hoping we can take the away form up to Pittodrie but we know that we will be underdogs again. Aberdeen are the Premierleague team and we are just delighted with the way they (the team) competed today. That's three times we have met Premierleague opposition this season and I think we have given a good account of ourselves each time.

"Pittodrie is one difficult venue to go to, I never won many times there myself as a player so I know exactly what we are in for. But there is character in the side and it is up to them to go and take the confidence of how they played today into the next game. We need to improve or own product a wee bit more."

Jimmy Calderwood commented after the cup tie:-

"First twenty minutres, Dunfermline dominated and were causing us problems with their system.  Stephen Glass was getting a lot of time on the ball and when he has time, he has good vision and a good pass. We brought Derek Young into midfield and played with two wide men - Smith and Aluko with Tommy (Wright) through the middle. It was a hard shift for Tommy against two very experienced defenders but he did well.

"Dunfermline could have been ahead 1-0 from a wonderful corner, wee Nicky Phinn missed the volley but after that when we got organised we looked much better. Jamie got on the ball within the first two minutes of changing it and we looked a better team.  To be fair to young Calum Woods, he did great against Aluko.

"At half time I wasn't too happy at half time but I thought in the first twenty five minutes of the second half we did brilliantly.  We should have finished them off.  They looked dangerous moving the ball from side to side at pace - getting our extra man in but then we just couldn't get the finishing touch.

"It was a good goal from Sone but really from that position we should have won the game.  All credit to big Jim, he kept throwing forwards on, with a bit of height and it was a sloppy goal for us.  Charlie (Mulgrew) should have closed him down a lot earlier and I don't think Jamie (Langfield) is not too happy with himself either.

"Then it could be a scary last ten minutes to be honest in a game that at that momrent in time we were dominating.  It is not an easy venue; I know a lot of clubs thought Aberdeen got the easiest draw but it is a difficult place to come to.  They possibly have more SPL experience than us those lads out there with Glass, Shields, Wilson, McCann, Bayne.

"We are still in it, that's important. We came here to win the game, don't get me wrong - we are still in it is most important.  Looking back we have only been beaten by Rangers in a cup tie at Pittodrie - a league cup tie when we first joined. In European games as well we have not lost, hopefully that's a great omen."

JC admitted to being slightly annoyed since he felt that his side should have won it.

"After the first twenty minutes you would just have been happy to take them back to Pittodrie.

"I thought the Aberdeen support was fabulous but I have got to thank the Dunfermline support as well, I thought they were great to me.  There were a few, probably kids to honest, but the people that know the job that Jimmy and I did were absolutely brilliant."

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