Manager on Friday

02/04/10:- Andy Kirk and Graham Bayne now look to be out for the season, Alex Burke and Graeme Holmes set to return

Shooting boots get cleaned up

Jim McIntyre is looking forward to the visit of Ross County but knows full points are imperative. On Thursday his players trained at Toryglen in Glasgow but on a sunny Good Friday it was back to Pitreavie where he spoke to the website after training:-

"We have had three draws with Ross County this season; the 0-0 draw was described as one of the best but the bottom line is that we should have won that game with the great chances that we got. We were 3-2 up with a great chance to go 4-2 up at home - we should have won that although Ross County had two good chances late on.

"Goals change games and you have got to take them when the chances come along. We have failed to take them on a number of occasions this season but its all about points now, we must take full points or else we are out of it."

With games running out; Dunfermline have five, Ross County nine, both clubs know that the result on Saturday will be all important:-

"They have four games in hand on us so they will be looking at it to claw back some points plus they have all those games in hand. We look at it the opposite way - if we go and beat them then we go eight points ahead of them."

The Manager described the five remaining games - Ross County, Ayr United, Inverness, Morton and Airdrie United as five cup finals:-

"If we lose any of them we can kiss goodbye to our title hopes. We need to turn the performances against County into three points."

Despite that Macca didn't feel the pressure of being on a bit of a tightrope:-

"You just have to go out there and give it your all. If it is good enough on the day, then great. Football is about pressure and getting results - that's why we are professionals and not amateurs because you are asked to play in front of a crowd, you are picked as one of the better players and progress through your career but you have got to handle pressure. That's what the better players do.

"It is up to us, we know how good a side County are and they they have had a tremendous season and are a credit to themselves and their manager. We have had good games against them but this one is a must win game."

Selection becomes more of a choice for tomorrow's game since both Alex Burke and Graeme Holmes are fit to return. Keeper Chris Smith has been brought in on loan from St Mirren since Greg Paterson went through an operation on his broken leg at the Queen Margaret Hospital on Thursday and it is hoped he will be able to go home today (Friday).

Jim McIntyre confirmed that his strikers Andy Kirk and Graham Bayne now look to be out for the season:-

"It puts the recent run of results we have had on a higher level for me. That's our recognised strikeforce that we are doing without and it is credit to the players that they have put a great run together, OK we lost a couple of games but to bounce back against Dundee was good. I thought young Ross Campbell did really well against Dundee, he looked a lot better starting the game. He looked very lively and was unlucky not to score."