Jim O'Brien Post Kilmarnock
Monday, 19th Feb 2007"People think that Dunfermline can't play good football but we showed that we can, Kilmarnock ar
"It feels like a defeat today to the boys in the dressing room, but the Manager has come in and said that we just need to keep plugging away. We have not got beat and even before the man got sent off we absolutely battered them. We played really well; some of our play was brilliant.
"The amount of balls that me and Adam put in the box was frightening. Maybe we just need a little bit of luck at times but it just never happened for us."
There is no doubt that the strikers were fed high balls and crosses into the Kilmarnock box but it took a penalty to bring Dunfermline's first SPL goal since 10th December:-
"To be fair to Craw he has been getting a hard time of it of late, he stepped up and put it away well. There was a lot of talk at the referee from their players, he had to wait on the referee. Craw wanted it as soon as it got awarded so fair play to him.
"The Manager said to Stevie 'that's the shackles off now'. Alan Combe had great saves from Stephen Simmons and Adam Hammill - that is what he is there to do and he did it well. The strikers upfront worked that hard but just didn't get the breaks that they deserve."
The Pars luck was out when one of the best chances of the game fell to central defender Scott Wilson:-
"Scott is a professional, he is good at what he does so you cannot fault him for missing that chance. He has kept us in many games before.
"It was harder playing against ten men than eleven. At times when they had eleven men we were playing better than we did in the second half. We really didn't want half time to come, we were playing so well. People think that Dunfermline can't play good football but we showed that we can, Kilmarnock are a decent side."
The on loan Celtic player is fully committed to Dunfermline and was bitterly disappointed that in the end one point made no difference to the league table:-
"We expected Hearts to beat St Mirren at Tynecastle, it meant no points gained or lost between us and St Mirren. It is still the way we went into the game. There are a lot of points still to play for, St Mirren will maybe be sweating a little bit they know that we are on their backs. We have still to play them twice, we play Motherwell twice, Inverness twice - the Manager has touched on that and we know that we can do it." He went on to explain that he is happy to play wide or as striker:-
"I came through Celtic from the age of sixteen as a wide player but the Manager just wants me to use my legs up the line and get at people. I do not mind, I like that. Upfront you seem to be fighting for the ball a lot of the time but he knows he can change it - I played upfront against Falkirk."
Jim O'Brien's loan deal excludes him from playing for Dunfermline against Celtic on 3rd March but that conveniently allows him to fulfil an international commitment with the Republic of Ireland.
The Republic of Ireland Under-21 team managed by Don Givens will play in the 11th annual Madeira Cup tournament from February 27th - March 2nd. Ireland won the trophy on the island of Madeira last year and will defend their title by playing three matches against Slovakia (February 27th), Madeira (February 28th) and Portugal (March 2nd). Also in the squad is Celtic's Darren O'Dea.
Stephen Kenny Post Kilmarnock | Dunfermline 1 Kilmarnock 1 |
Stevie Crawford Post Kilmarnock | 03/03/07 Hall of Fame |
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