Jim Jefferies Post East Fife

19/07/12:- JJ "I said to them it was a learning experience for me tonight because there were two or three trialists playing that we had to have a look at.

Jim Jefferies reflected on how well his new faces gelled in their first pre season friendly against East Fife:-

"It is the first time these boys have played together, they do not know each others game but there were some really good little moves with their pace and movement in the first half. You could see sometimes that they were not on the same wavelength, and in spells they were.

"I said to them it was a learning experience for me tonight because there were two or three trialists playing that we had to have a look at. That was nothing like the side that will probably take the field when we start the league campaign. I know we have a cup tie at the end of next week but we will improve because there were three experienced boys not available tonight. Cardle, Barrowman and Dowie have picked up wee strains so we kept them for Saturday because they couldn't be risked.

"It was all about trialists tonight. I gave most of the players 45 minutes and some had to stay on a little bit longer because of the injuries that we had. I said to them not to get too down about it - it is your first time playing here and you know what to expect now. I never get too down with pre season results and I never get too high when we win them.

"It is a learning curve tonight for them and a big learning curve for me just looking at certain players. You will see certain changes as time goes on."

The postponement of the game at Berwick on Saturday and the need to delay the East Fife match by 24 hours has added to the Manager's frustrations over not being able to see potential signings in a match:-

"We have had trialists hanging about for ages and we needed to give them a game to prove what they can do. It is not right having a trialist in and they say well you never gave me a chance. They got chances tonight and now it is my decision to find out whether they are good enough or not. That was all it was about tonight. It wasn't about winning the game - it is nice to win and you go out to win the game but it was more important that we learned a lot of things tonight.

"There were one or two plusses; I thought Ryan Thomson did well, Paul Willis had a decent first half and wee Alex Whittle was lively when he came on. Big Kevin Kyle was just using the game - we gave him as long as we could. He has been out for 18 months, but he will be a lot fitter in three weeks time and he could be an asset to us if we can get him."

The Manager confirmed that one of the other trialists was Ian Murray. Did the trialists impress the gaffer?

"I have to take everything into account; they don't know the players, they have come here and are trying hard. I'd rather speak to them first before I make any further comments but I will be speaking to them tonight."

East Fife proved worthy opponents and continued their success after knocking the SPL Pars out of last season's Scottish Communities League Cup.  The Manager added:-

"It is good to get a game like this to let these young players realise just how hard it is going to be.  Even playing against a club from a lower division it was a good test for them."