Jim McIntyre on Friday

31/10/08: "I am hoping for a big turn out of home fans. Our fans have been great and they made a great effort the other night on what was a freezing cold night. They have

Jim McIntyre had a great result against St Johnstone back in August in Perth but even though the Pars ran out 3-0 winners he felt that it had been a tough match and that he thought St Johnstone would still be challenging for the title, as expected, come the end of the season:-

"I said at the time that St Johnstone would still be my favourites. They have great strength in depth, they are well organised and they play the game the right way. We will need to have a similar type of performance to beat them.

"It is our home game and the onus is on us to win, that is what we will be trying to do but we know how difficult it will be.

"They are full of confidence having taken 16 from the last 18 points - it has been a fantastic run to haul themselves back in after an indifferent start. They are a team full of beans and they are coming here on high spirits. We are also on good form, we were very unlucky to be put out of the Cup on Tuesday night.

"We are not in the next round and we are disappointed about that. The most pleasing thing from it was that we put on a good performance. We can take the positives from that it that we more than matched a very good Dundee United side. We take confidence from our recent league results into the game as well."

Macca is hopeful that the large and vociferous travelling support that followed the Pars to Tannadice on Tuesday night will be joined by the regular home fans to cheer on their team on Saturday.

"I am hoping for a big turn out of home fans. The last thing we want is St Johnstone to bring a load of fans in and have more than we have at our home game. Our fans have been great and they made a great effort the other night on what was a freezing cold night. They have been fantastic."

Key to the outcome of the match will be the Dunfermline striking partnership of Graham Bayne and Andy Kirk:-

"The two of them have hit it off really well from the start. You are always looking for as many goals as you can from them but the job that Graham Bayne does for the team cannot be underestimated. He is pivotal to the way we way play the game and is great foil for Andy."

Jim McIntyre is back in training. Scott Wilson came through Tuesday night's game with no reaction to his hip injury.