Danny spot on but chinned

Grainger says "Saturday wasn't anything near good enough

Danny Grainger felt that the Stranraer match did not produce the result nor the performance that the team was looking for:-

"We let ourselves down massively, it is hard to take but we are going to have to take it on the chin. We will move on and the hard work will start again on Monday. We need to get back to what we were doing in the previous few games. Saturday wasn't anything near good enough."

The opposition were handed a penalty in just seven minutes that Martin Grehan converted to send the Pars behind:-

"Big Callum obviously brought him down but he has been fantastic for us, a stand out. It was just one of those days where a few things didn't seem to work out."

The outcome could have been so much different had Dunfermline scored rather than conceded a goal just six minutes from the break. Andy Geggan's rocket of a shot came back off keeper David Mitchell but Lawrence Shankland stuck what looked like a cast iron chance, wide of the right goalpost.

"That's football, it is one of these things that are sometimes hard to take on the chin. They probably had three chances and scored three goals. All of them have come from our mistakes."

Match statistics show Dunfermline with 16 shots to Stranraer's six; 7 on target to the hosts four. Dunfermline had twelve corners to Stranraer's one. So Danny had a good feel for that, but he also admitted that goals conceded were made too easy for Stranraer to take full advantage of:-

"The second goal was a mistake between me and Page and the third between a few of us. It is not as though they have gone and created a load of chances and been the better team. We have been the better team by a long way. There was only one team on the pitch that looked like creating more chances and that was us. They have been clinical in front of goal and 3-1 obviously flatters them a bit."

Dunfermline tried really hard after Danny had scored from the penalty spot with twelve minutes of the match remaining. The Stranraer six yard box was at some times besieged:-

"It just didn't seem to fall for us in the right places. The ball fell to Hubby on the edge of the box on his left foot. It could have fallen to his right and you could have backed him him to finish. There was a ball that fell to Callum and he hit a shot that was blocked on the line by one of their boys. They didn't seem to fall for us.

"Shank's couple of chances - one off the post and one off the line were just some chances in a game that we could have won. At the end of the day mistakes that plagued defenders at the back cost us."

Danny's goal from the penalty spot was his second in just five matches for Dunfermline Athletic and he came to another with a shot from distance not long after.  He explained:-

"I took a hit on it and was just unlucky but I am more bothered about keeping clean sheets than scoring goals. As a defender that is my main job."

The 26 year old found it a disappointing days for the players and had sympathy for all the supporters who had chosen to go down to Wigtownshire.

"We appreciate what they have done for us. A lot of them went down and we have let them down as well as ourselves and the coaches. We just need to get back to winning ways next week."

The result gives Stranraer a boost as they set about playing the two games they have in hand. The nearest rivals for second place in League One can close the gap to five points if they can win the two matches against East Fife and Forfar Athletic:-

"If we had won not many teams would really fancy themselves to come back from 17 points adrift. If they win the couple of games in hand, I think it is back to five points so it is still quite open with just seven games to go. The hard work will start on Monday to make sure that we do not perform like that again."

Next up are Stenhousemuir and Danny feels that makes the fixture even more important. "We need to make sure we are ready for that next Saturday come three o'clock."