Manager ahead of Falkirk

05/10/12: JJ - "I used to think it was a battle for the rights to the Kincardine Bridge.

After good results and heaps of praise for recent performances against Livingston, Aberdeen and Hamilton, Pars boss Jim Jefferies has warned his team that there is no room for complacency as they prepare for the derby match at Falkirk:-

"You have got to keep your feet on the ground. If we have had the praise we need to go into next week looking for the praise again. Nobody likes to be criticised so we need to keep the praise going as long as we can."

The Manager labelled last Saturday's game against Hamilton as the toughest test so far but this week's to Falkirk will be even tougher:-

"They are a team capable of going on a run. They are suffering from having lost one or two players and injuries but also when you have a young squad that had success last season, there comes a time when managers get to find out, through time, what their strengths and weaknesses are and counteract that. Then it becomes more difficult for young players and then suddenly like all young players, I have had it myself, they hit a brick wall and the secret is to take them out, especially the younger ones and give them a rest. Don't let their confidence get too low; take them out when they least expect it and bring them back a few weeks later when things are going well again."

Jim Jefferies is expecting there to be a great atmosphere at the Falkirk Stadium on Saturday:-

"Its just about the set of players that goes on the pitch and who plays the best. Right now we cannot ask for any more. If Falkirk are a bit low on confidence they will probably make up for that with the atmosphere and try to work harder to get a result. That might be the kind of result that could kick start their season."

The Manager claims that he didn't appreciate the Falkirk - Pars rivalry until he became the Falkirk boss in 1990:-

"I used to think it was a battle for the rights to the Kincardine Bridge. We had derbies recently that are understandable - Fife, local, just up the road, but I think that there is a bit of rivalry there for some reason and you always treat it with a little more pleasure when you win, a bit more bitter in defeat. Both are young football teams who will go out there and it will not spill on to the pitch. They both want to win, the atmosphere will be good and hopefully it helps us more than it helps Falkirk."

Dunfermline go into the match full of confidence and the Manager pointed out just how well his second placed side is doing:-

"We have a belief in us that we can win a lot of games this season. When you look at the last five league games we have scored 14 goals and had two against. That means that the defence are doing their job, the midfield is creating chances and the forwards are scoring, That is great to have and if we can keep that going as long as possible then we will be up there where we said we wanted to be challenging for the league."

The Manager reports that he has a full squad to choose from. Chris Kane has stepped up his training and is expected to be back with the first team squad after the international break.

"We have only two games and then a another break because we are not included at that stage of the Scottish Cup.  That's another free week, if we don't get a game this time we will definitely be trying to fix up a game then."