Managers Post St Johnstone

11/04/09:- "The sending off changed the game. It was very soft but after that it was an uphill task but I have got to credit them, I thought they did OK with ten men.

Jim McIntyre didn't think that there was much in the game:-

"We started really well but St Johnstone scored from not defending a setpiece. We dropped a runner and they scored from that but I still thought that it was fairly even in the first half.

"They scored a great second from their point of view with the run from Irvine but we should have matched the run ton start with. It was a great individual finish; there was not a lot anyone could do with the finish into the top corner.

"The sending off changed the game. It was very soft but after that it was an uphill task but I have got to credit them, I thought they did OK with ten men. Obviously it is easier for St Johnstone with the extra man but they battled away and we had a couple of near things; it just wasn't to be.

"We gave away two cheap goals. Although the boy stuck it away in the top corner for the second one, you have to look at the build up to that; that is the disappointing thing for us. We got ourselves back into it, deservedly so with not a lot in the game and you think to yourself 'keep it nice a tight' but we shot ourselves in the foot again.

"After the sending off and going 3-1 down it was going to be very difficult."

The Manager revealed what Scott Wilson had felt about the red card:-

"He said that there was minimal contact. The ball was actually on its way over the bar as he slid in. Whether the referee sees that or not, I don't know but he chose to give it and we just have to get on with it. It was a big point in the game. St Johnstone converted the spot kick and that was it."

Queen of the South's 2-0 win over Partick Thistle made it a really good day for St Johnstone but that and Airdrie United's 1-0 at Dundee it means that pressure is being applied on Dunfermline in seventh place. Macca maintained:-

"We have got to try and win as many games as we can before the end of the season but it is so disappointing today."

He added that Scott Muirhead now faces two or three weeks out with a thigh injury sustained in the first ten minutes.

Derek McInnes was pleased to score from a setpiece because they had worked on that. 

"We lost a poor goal, we should have dealt with that better but we responded with two goals that topped the two from Liam Craig and Martin Hardie that we scored here earlier in the season. Gary Irvine's first senior goal was outstanding, good enough to win any game."

The St Johnstone boss felt that the game was won after Liam Craig's penalty kick early in the second half.

"Dunfermline never gave it up but kept working hard for their manager and made it difficult even with ten men.  Throughout we gave a good team performance as it has to be, especially away from home, to win this league."