Manager ahead of derby

18/03/10: JM - "We know Rovers will be smarting and desperate to make amends for the result the other night.

Jim McIntyre is hoping to repeat Tuesday night's win over local rivals, Raith Rovers:-

"We can but we need to be at our best. We know Rovers will be smarting and desperate to make amends for the result the other night. It was a very tight and close game but the players showed fantastic commitment and endeavour especially when we went do to ten men for the whole second half.

"It was hard going for them and we will not be doing any hard training between now and Saturday. They have got to rest up and do just a little light training, at this stage of the season that is all they need."

Steven McDougall has scored twice since coming back from a broken toe injury. The Manager is pleased by the way he has compensated for the absence of strikers Graham Bayne and Andy Kirk:-

"He has hit the ground running. His performance level has been good as well as the goals. We have to be careful, the danger after being out for a while is that after two or three games that he is not doing too much too soon."

As the season goes into its final quarter for the Pars with 27 points still at stake, Jim McIntyre knows that his team needs to avoid the Raith experience earlier this season when a league defeat followed a cup win just four days previously:-

"The nature of this league means that you can quite easily win two or three and lose two or three. I know that it is a clich? but you really can't get carried away and get ahead of yourself. You need to keep focussed, just take the game that is in front of you and try and win it. That is what we have done over the last three weeks. We wanted to try and keep our unbeaten run going and build on it."

Results this week have taken Dunfermline from sixth to third and suddenly Dundee don't look nearly so far away from us:-

"It has taken a long time, even when we had that unbeaten run we just didn't move but that was just because of our start to the season. We were so many points off that any points we did pick up weren't really moving us up the table. We have taken a wee jump now but we need to remember that the teams that we have jumped above have two and three games in hand. We could quite easily find ourselves back in sixth place."

Macca will be without the suspended Steven Bell on Saturday and there have been rather too many players sitting on the sidelines of late.

"Look at the photograph on Tuesday night of the players sitting at the side of the park. They would get in most people's teams. That gives credit to the boys who have played and the performance that they give."

Willie Gibson was withdrawn early on Tuesday night because of an injury he had going into the match. The Manager praised Willie for his assist and a goal:-

"In the last few weeks he has got back to doing what he does best."

Macca reflected on the club's AGM announcement that the Under 19s will be full time next season.

"The squad size that we have now will be reduced and the reason we need an under 19 team is because if we have injuries like we had this year then you are going to have two or three getting promoted to the first team squad every week.

"It will take time for the under 19s to produce players that are ready to come in at first team level. We might have to go with players on the bench who are not quite ready yet. That's just the way it is. That's the circumstances that we find ourselves in and all clubs will be the same. We are no different from anyone else but we will be approaching it in a positive manner to try and get the best out of what we have got.

"The benefit will be when players make the step up to the first team, it makes it easier to attract players to Dunfermline because they will see that as a young boy you get your chance at Dunfermline. Parents will want their nine, ten, eleven years olds signing up because they know when it comes to the first team that if they are good enough then they will get their chance. These things take a long time. Look how long it has taken Rangers to produce something out of their set up at Murray Park."