Managers Post Raith

13/11/10: JM - "If we hadn't made the mistake then they wouldn't have got the lift. You could visibly see the lift and on top of that we were down to ten men.

McGregor red carded after needless tackle

The 2-2 draw at home to Raith Rovers felt like a defeat to Pars Manager Jim McIntyre who said:-

"We were in control of the game. We were excellent in the first half and did really well. Kirky had a great chance to put us three up - that was a big moment in the game as well obviously but we had a man (Neil McGregor) sent off when there was no need to make the tackle. I thought McGregor was excellent today; he did really well - it was just the wrong decision. Down to ten men it was backs to the wall."

The mix up over the 77th minute substitutions after David Graham had been helped off the field by physio Gerry Docherty did not help the situation. Ryan Thomson and Joe Cardle came on and Dunfermline were back to eleven men on the park. The Manager explained what he understood of the crazy incident:-

"The Assistant Referee was handed the two slips. You cannot put two numbers up on the board, wee Mo has given him the slips so he knows that there are two subs to come off. The two subs ran on and only one has come off and he started playing on. It is the linesman's job to control that.

"We were running down the line because he started the game without someone coming back off. All we can do is hand the slips to the referee."

The sending off had a big impact on the game but so had Kirkie's chance and the goalkeeper's mistake:-

"If we hadn't made the mistake then they wouldn't have got the lift. You could visibly see the lift and on top of that we were down to ten men. Goals change games and they were obviously pounding away after that. If we hadn't made the mistakes, I think we would have won the game. We have just got to lick our wounds because it is a real sore one to take.

"We should never be conceding a two goal lead at home but we have contrived to do that with our own downfall."

Raith Rovers Manager John McGlynn reminded the press conference that his team have become renowned for their comebacks:-

"The game is never finished and you don't know that they are going to get a man sent off. You never give up; we said one or two things at half time and I thought we played a lot better in the second half, even before the lad got sent off. Immediately after the restart we had a couple of balls across the face of goal and looked more like it.

"They missed an absolute sitter and there was a big doubt over an offside decision that they had that might have killed the game but they didn't. Our lads showed tremendous character to come back; they fought right to the end and showed the spirit that we should have been showing from the start of the game which we didn't.

"We could have won the game because we hit the bar and had other chances. John Baird had a header which probably should have gone directly in but went across the face of goal and Iain Williamson put it over the bar. Ian Davidson also had a chance so we had chances in the end and finished by far the stronger team.

"We are delighted to get 2-2 from where we were at half time however we may have taken all three points in the end."

McGlynn called the substitution incident that restored Dunfermline to eleven men as one of the strangest things he had ever seen:-

"There was a lot of confusion - maybe the lad going off injured confused someone. Within seconds I was saying there has only one player gone off and two players have gone on. It is a very very unusual situation that you just have to pick up the pieces from."

The Raith boss felt that his team's first half performance was a consequence of showing Dunfermline too much respect.

"We didn't defend as well today as we normally do. We didn't defend well in the wider areas, we were maybe a wee bit apprehensive of their wide players who do well for them but we shouldn't have been. They got a couple of crosses in which led to bad clearances, which led to other crosses coming in and that's how we lost the first goal. The second goal was a clearance from a cross ball that came in too easy and the lad came on and shot a really good shot.

"Dunfermline deserved to be in front because of the way they went about the game but it still wasn't as if there was loads in it. We didn't do well enough but thankfully for us we changed it in the second half."

McGlynn served a touchline ban and watched the match from the stand but claimed that it was just as well that he had lost much of his head of hair because watching the second half might have had him pulling his hair out:-

"You are a wee bit further away from it and you can count to ten. It was good to see the last goal going in; it was a well taken goal by Allan Walker and Iain Williamson chased a lost cause and got a goal for the first one from an error in their defence that let us back in the game. They will be rueing that."