Manager ahead of Partick

16/08/12: JJ - "I have told the players that they have to take the mantle of being called favourites because it is Dunfermline Football Club

Jim Jefferies is wary that Saturday's opponents may be further into their team reconstruction and so better prepared for the second league game of the season than his side:-

"They have got a new side together, young boys with one or two players from lower divisions whether here or in England. We have done the same and hopefully we can start a bit quicker and not take two or three years. The long term plan is to put a good challenge in for the league and this Saturday will be a big indicator for me and for the players themselves to show that they are good enough to be in there challenging."

The short odds of 9-4 to win the First Division have no basis according to the Pars boss, blaming it totally on the Club's reputation:-

"Partick and Falkirk will be up there along with two or three others. People say, although not in my eyes, that we are one of the favourites but that is not saying that we are going to settle for anything less than being up there challenging. I have told the players that they have to take the mantle of being called favourites because it is Dunfermline Football Club - one of the biggest, if not the biggest in the league. 'You will be the target for every team that you play against, they will all raise their games against you and that is why I brought you here'.

"We do not fear anybody, we just have to make sure that we do the right things. No disrespect to Cowdenbeath, we will find it much tougher on Saturday and there will be tougher games ahead.

"Last Saturday's win gave a big boost in confidence. Partick have not lost a game yet but there is the chance. They will not make it easy, they are a good side and we will be aware of that. At any stage in the game, we cannot afford to slack or lose concentration because they have players who can punish you.

"We have players who could punish them as well so it will be interesting if they play well and we play well, the winners on Saturday will be the supporters because it could be a cracking game."

The Manager admitted to having three trialists in and that he had a look at them in a hastily arranged closed doors friendly against Livingston on Tuesday. Dunfermline were 3-0 up at half time but after a few disruptive changes in the second half it was much tighter as Dunfermline ran out 4-1 winners.

"It was not about the result, it was about the trialists, having a look at people and we certainly got something out of it. Ryan Wallace came back in that game, lasted half an hour but he aggravated his hamstring a bit further so we took him off quickly. He will probably miss Saturday but Joe Cardle came through okay. He missed out at Cowdenbeath but we took a chance there with Alex Whittle. Whittle didn't take part on Tuesday because I wanted to keep him back but he trained this morning. If they are both fit then that's a nice situation to have but Ryan is the one who misses out."

Fassyal El Bakhtaoui picked up a thigh strain in the U20 game against Falkirk on Wednesday night but the rest of the squad is free of injury. The gaffer praised the support given to the team at Central Park:-

"I thought they were fantastic. A bit like everybody else they were a bit frustrated but you have to accept that and you need to pay respect to the other team. When the team settled down they were great and we hope for that support to turn out and a few more at home.

"Partick Thistle is an attractive game, we will go in on the high of winning our first game 4-0. They want to remain unbeaten and we want to be the first team to beat them. Jackie McNamara has done a great job there on a tight tight budget. He has had a couple of years to bring his own players in and now they could reap the benefits."

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