Manager Post Ross County

22/02/11 JM: - "We carved out the chances but couldn't quite stick the ball in the net, that was the disap

Jim McIntyre felt very frustrated after the drawn game at Victoria Park, Dingwall:-

"Especially in the second half we got ourselves into some great positions and should have scored at least two."

The Manager felt that the major flaw was not the creation of chances but the execution of them:-

"You just have to get yourself in positions and hope that the boys can put the ball away. Tonight were never did that and it cost us. The players were excellent and worked extremely hard, we just didn't have that cutting edge tonight which was very disappointing. We carved out the chances but couldn't quite stick the ball in the net, that was the disappointing factor."

The Manager explained his thinking behind his changed formation deployed against Ross County.

"We just felt 4-3-3 coming away from home and coming up here that we could stretch them with Pat Clarke on one side and Davie Graham on the other. Using their pace we would try and stretch them down the sides. In the first half we weren't quite doing it well enough and so we made a change 20 minutes into the second half.

"We brought on another striker, went with three narrow midfielders with Mason sitting in. It seemed to work well enough; McDougall caused them problems by getting into good areas. Kirkie had a partner up there who was closer to him - I felt the two boys weren't getting close enough in the first half."

At some point in the past a point from Dingwall might have been deemed a good result but with Raith Rovers losing at home to Dundee and the number of chances to beat County the mood had to be one of disappointment:-

"We are not happy at all. There was an opportunity there to carve out the three points with the chances created. We have failed to do that so for me it is two points dropped although the games between ourselves and County are very tight. They are a good side and they have a new manager here who they were fighting to impress for contracts. It was never going to be an easy game but we are disappointed."

Next up are Queen of the South in Dumfries and from 5th March there will be games every Tuesday and Saturday until the end of that month:-

"It is going to be very tough but it is up to us to try and get ourselves on that winning run. Sometimes when games are bunched together it can happen like that. We will try our best and hopefully not pick up too many injuries. Eight games in 24 days is a big ask, it is a lot of lot of games but we feel we have the squad that is capable of doing that. That is what we will be hoping to achieve."

Jimmy Calderwood praised his County side's attitude:-

"We could easily have lost a goal in the first half but the young centre halves have dug in and got a clean sheet against a very good team. In the second half I thought we were the better team and certainly no less than Dunfermline."

He sang the praises of his substitutes:-

"Steven Milne came on with a wee bit more experience, tucking in behind Barrowman to stop Gary Mason and when we got the ball he was keeping it up for us. That was the difference and to be fair all three substitutes were all positive ones, they were all forwards - well we don't have too many defenders to be honest - I don't have much choice.

"There are a lot of positives to take out of the game; we got a clean sheet and we improved in the second half to finish the game very strongly. That says a lot for their fitness levels."

MATCH PICTURES
MATCH REPORT: 22/02/11 Ross County 0 Dunfermline 0