Manager on Thursday
Friday, 30th Dec 201130/12/11: JM - ""It is never easy to win that amount of games in the Premier League. They are on a fantastic run and their confidence is sky high.
Jim McIntyre has revealed that on loan full back Jason Thomson has returned to Hearts but on the positive side, in terms of numbers available for selection, Joe Cardle was fit enough to join in training on Thursday. Joe, Jason and Martin Hardie would have missed out on the Motherwell game had it gone ahead and Hardie is still sidelined. Kevin Rutkiewicz, Steven McDougall, Nick Phinn and Steven Bell are still at varying stages of comeback but not yet joining in training with the others.
It was a bit of a blessing then you feel that the wind put pay to the chances of Wednesday night's match going ahead and it was not surprising that Macca was in full agreement with the postponement:-
"It was the right decision, there was some structural damage at Fir Park and I really do think that they have to set some speed limit for the wind if that's possible because wind is the worst factors in spoiling a game of football. We are not too disappointed that the game was off because of the injury situation and obviously the horrendous weather - it makes it a lottery when the wind is like that, I am sure Stuart McCall will be feeling the same."
Without a match of their own, Assistant Gerry McCabe went to watch Celtic play Rangers and Jim McIntyre took in St Johnstone against Kilmarnock. Another scout watched Hibs against Inverness Caley Thistle. Jim is impressed by the run of nine wins that Neil Lennon's Celtic have put together to take them to the top of the SPL table:-
"It is never easy to win that amount of games in the Premier League. They are on a fantastic run and their confidence is sky high. We know that we will be in for a really tough game on Monday.
"Celtic's strikeforce impresses but they are also getting key players back as well. They missed Kayal for a while and Scott Brown is back - he is a massive player for Celtic; he gets them going. Then there are the goals that Stokes and Hooper take as well."
That said Dunfermline can get a result but Jim knows that it will take a great many things all going well to achieve that:-
"What you do need when you play the Old Firm is your goalkeeper to have an outstanding game and everybody playing to their maximum. You need a bit of luck because you know that you will need to weather a lot of pressure and attempts at your goal."
Certainly that was the way things turned out to be at Celtic Park back in November. The home side put the Fifers defence under a barrage for the first 30 minutes but having got through that just two goals down came back to cause Celtic problems after Ki missed a penalty and Andy Barrowman scored.
"When you score it gets their fans a bit edgy. Celtic had a lot of attempts at goal in the first half and had a lot of pressure. That's when you have to defend well to keep yourself in the game against them."
Having pointed out the importance of the man between the sticks Macca described keeper Chris Smith's attitude and mood as fine following his disappointing debut in the SPL for Dunfermline:-
"He is not the first to make mistakes this season and he won't be the last - it is all about how you react to your mistakes that is the biggest thing. He has trained very well and is looking forward to the game. The focus is on trying to get the next result that could change around our fortunes."
The way things have turned around for Aberdeen is something that Dunfermline would dearly like to emulate and the Manager recognises that he has to keep pounding belief into his players. The opportunities to score are still coming around with him rueing not hitting equalisers against Hearts and Barrowman failing when having a great chance against St Johnstone.
"There are patches in games where we are doing things right and as equally important as not conceding with a mistake is trying to put away your chance when you get it. We have learned that from the first half of the season."
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