Managers Post St Johnstone

13/08/11: JM - "It is a great start but that is all that it is. Three games in and were are delighted with the start that we have made as the new boys but we will not get carried away

Jim McIntyre was naturally pleased to register his first SPL win as a manager:-

"I'm delighted. The spirit in the camp is superb and we needed that in the second half when we went down to 10 men. It was a fantastic save from Paul Gallacher, which I think gave us a real lift because St Johnstone put us under huge amounts of pressure after the sending-off. But we defended admirably."

Paul Gallacher's penalty save in 61st minute was crucial but it wasn't a game where the Pars keeper was called upon to make any special saves:-

"Apart from a Murray Davidson header in the first half and the penalty save, each of the saves were fairly routine. Defensively we were excellent because it's a hard shift when you're a man down and you've got to keep battling and you are getting put under such pressure. They have a lot of big boys in their team, they threw in a lot of high balls and really tested us."

Asked whether Potter should have been red-carded, McIntyre responded: "No, never. It's a definite penalty but he's not the last man so we'll definitely appeal that."

Macca praised Gallacher for his second penalty save in three SPL matches:-

"He is a top keeper. I have played with Gall, worked with him in his first time when I was the Manager here and I know what I am getting with him. He is a consistent goalkeeper and Chris Smith who did exceptionally well last year is unlucky after helping us get promotion that he has not started this season. We felt that we needed a bit of experience as well but he will keep Paul Gallacher on his toes as well because he is a right good goalkeeper too."

Dunfermline's style in the First Division attracted a lot of admiration but the Manager felt that to hold out like they did against St Johnstone was good confirmation that his side was capable of fulfilling the 'dirty side' of the game:-

"We did that a few times as well. Everybody thinks that we played with wingers every week but when the pitches were poor we changed our system and went with more men in the middle of the park. We will still try and pass the ball but obviously today it was backs to the wall stuff. We got that bit of luck but today I thought the boys deserved their luck."

The goal that made the difference had the look of a well rehearsed set piece:-

"It was a well worked goal and Kirk is a sniffer - he knows where to be in the box, in the right place at the right times. He has scored goals like that all his career at every level and I am delighted with him. It is nice to see these things coming off because nine times out of ten they don't."

The victory gives Dunfermline five points out of a possible nine to sit fourth in the SPL:-

"It is a great start but that is all that it is. Three games in and we are delighted with the start that we have made as the new boys but we will not get carried away. We know what a long season it is going to be and there are many tough tasks ahead but with the spirit we have in there hopefully we can keep going after a positive start.

St Johnstone Manager Derek McInnes was disappointed with the result but not too disappointed with the performance.

"I thought we were the dominant side from the off. We missed a couple of opportunities to get ourselves in front and it's disappointing that our keeper had not had a save to make and then we fell behind to a set-piece. It was well worked from Dunfermline and you have got to credit that but you have still to expect Andy Kirk to be picked up in the box before he puts the ball over the line.

"Other than a five or ten minute spell after that we were the dominant side, even before they went down to ten men. There are no two ways about it, the turning point for us, or the crucial point in the game, was the missed penalty.

"If we go and score that one we get a lot of momentum, belief and confidence, and I think we could have gone on to win the game. But in terms of the actual performance it wasn't too bad and there were loads of positives to take from it."

McInnes also backed Craig after the midfielder, who was playing at full-back in the absence of the injured Callum Davidson, shrugged off Sandaza's attempts to take the ball from him to take the penalty:-

"Liam Craig is the penalty-taker and wanted to take the kick. I don't know what Fran Sandaza is like at penalties, I've only worked with him for a couple of weeks. It's all right in hindsight saying I should have let Fran take it but if he had missed it people would have said 'why didn't you let your club taker take it?' That fact that it has been missed does become an issue."