Managers Post Clyde

20/12/08: "If you score four goals you expect to win the game, especially at home. We need to get back, keep working hard and try to sort it out.

Jim McIntyre commented after the 4-4 draw with Clyde:-

"I am happy with the way we came back but overall very disappointed with the way we are playing at home. Away from home we seem to have no problems but come home games we seem to have three or four players who don't turn up. You are never going to win football matches if that's the way it is.

"It was such a bizarre game, the first 4-4 I have been involved in as a manager. I have got to credit them for the way they kept going.  Even when I had to come back off, I still kept two up to try and nick a win. That's what it would have been; we would have nicked a win."

After sustaining injury within four minutes of coming on as a 74th minute sub for Austin McCann, the Pars player manager was asked if he felt that he had a chance to fulfill a suitable warm up, Macca replied:-

"I was out for five minutes doing a warm up.  I injured my calf; I have been struggling with a really tight achilles and it was 50-50 whether I could be on the bench today. I took the gamble and it didn't work.  The calf is obviously trying to protect the achilles.  I have been on every footballer's favourite medicine, Volterol (painkiller) just to try and get through.

"We just felt that we only had one other attacking option, so I wanted to keep as many attacking options as possible.  That has been working of late so I took a wee gamble on that."

The Pars gaffer was also extremely unhappy to lose such poor goals:-

"It was schoolboy defending right from the start.  I am sure Clyde will pick the bones out of our goals as well. If you score four goals you expect to win the game, especially at home.  We need to get back, keep working hard and try to sort it out.

"I felt that we were too stretched as a team. We were playing too far apart and as long as we do that teams will create space and opportunities. We need to get back to being tight as a unit all over the pitch. That also helps you get in people's faces more.

"We have signed Rory Loy to give us a different dimension so we thought we'd try and change it having lost the last three at home and go 4-3-3 today.  We didn't defend well enough as a team.  That comes from your distances between your back line, your midfield and your front line.  I felt that we were just far too open today as a team.  So it's back on Monday to work on it."

John Brown's commented after the match:-

"I think at the start of the game we would have taken a point for coming here, but when we are 4-2 up? I don't know what the referee was looking at their first goal, giving the penalty kick.  I thought maintaining contact or using your body to protect and block is never a penalty kick. He is one of our top referees.

"I know the SPL managers are not talking, but I'll talk about it. That goes a long way to do it because we had started the game with an early goal. We created the better chances, some of the football was great in the second half.

"It was disappointing defensively for three of the goals. At 4-2 we should have had the game dead and buried but there were two slack goals.  One from our goalkeeper (David Hutton) who has been outstanding for us. You score four goals, we have had four or five clean sheets - these come every now and then.  Hopefully we can get that out of the system, it will be a lot tighter next week at St Johnstone."

Good news there for Pars fans who may well recall the scorer of two of Clyde's goals from his days as a youth at Dunfermline.  Pat Clarke came on as a sub in the last SPL match of the 2003-04 season.  John Brown went on to praise his striker:-

"He got another couple of goals, we have had a fantastic return from him and he will be catching a few eyes in the Premierleague because he is a goalscorer, a young guy going places."

Match Report 20/12/08: Dunfermline 4 Clyde 4