Managers Post Clyde

24/08/10: JM - "I did fear that the goals were not going to come in the second half but you have got to be patient and keep battering away at the door.

Jim McIntyre praised Clyde for coming to East End Park and making it hard for his team:-

"They set themselves up to be difficult to break down and when it is like that you have got to remain extremely patient.  First and foremost you have got to pass the ball with a tempo; try and move them from side to side.  I thought our tempo and our passing were poor but you have got to give Clyde great credit for that.

"We are in the hat for the next round and that is the most important thing. We will play miles and miles better and lose games, so it is just pleasing to be in the next round."

Progression to the next round was due to goals from Steven McDougall and two from Andy Kirk. The Manager felt that his striker was unlucky not to score another;-

"He rattled the post as weel; he is on fire at the minute and is a real threat.  If we can get balls into the area we know that nine times out of ten he will get on the end of them.

"I did fear that the goals were not going to come in the second half but you have got to be patient and keep battering away at the door.  I gave my subs a wee bit of stick on Saturday for not giving me anything when they came on but tonight they came on and changed the game for us.  I am glad that there was a positive response."

The Manager confirmed that David Graham will undergo surgery on his ankle on Thursday:-

"It is a soft tissue injury and hopefully the operation will clear things up.  We will klnow more once he has been operated on but we don't envisage him being out for a long spell.  Hopefully best case scenario will be four weeks."

It is the same ankle that kept David out for two months at the same stage last season:-

"He has had a wee problem with it since the start of pre season really.  It is something that needs to be looked at because it is restricting him and affecting his performance.  When it gets to that stage then we need to do something about it."

Clyde gaffer Stuart Millar thought that his players were "absolutely terrific":-

"We were oustanding from the first minute to the last minute and deserve a huge amount of praise for their performance. There are defining moments in games; obviously Dunfermline scored just before half time to get them level.  Yes we rode our luck at times but you have to when you come to a place like this.

"We hit the post in the first half and then we went 2-1 up through Marc McCusker in the second half then Stuart Mills had a great chance.  The kid has only just turned 20 and he had a great chance to make it 3-1 but the goalie saved it.  Then we expected the bombardment which didn't surprise us.

"For a young group who are inexperienced - a lot of them playing only their second and third senior game, I have nothing but praise for them. We came with a game plan; if we came and opened up Dunfermline has got better players than us - they are a full time club - they would have picked us off quite easily.

"The game plan was to come and frustrate them and by God we did that.  Nothing but praise for the players and the performance.  They gave us everything but it just wasn't to be."