Manager on Thursday

06/12/12: JJ - "We are expecting a tough game. We will not sit back off them and let them get int

Jim Jefferies preparations for the match against Livingston on Saturday have been hampered this week due to the weather but the players were given some respite from the first deep bite of winter weather when they enjoyed the facilities at Ravenscraig on Thursday. He described his squad as "buzzing" after an uplifting result at Firhill last Saturday:-

"We were 1-0 up and playing comfortably. After the sending off their defensive system didn't change, Partick played 4-4 with one up front. They never looked like scoring but as the game wore on Jackie McNamara quite rightly threw men forward. Gaps materialised but we didn't exploit them. It was a combination of bad finishing and good goalkeeping from Graeme Smith that stopped us getting two goals in front.

"If we had got a second goal then I think we could have gone on to win more convincingly. We led comfortably and could have scored more goals. When its 1-0 you are never safe; they were pumping very good balls into the box from free kicks and corner kicks. That was an area that I told my players afterwards that I was disappointed with. We gave away far too many free kicks. Ross Forbes has got a great delivery and you don't want to set them up because they work a lot on their set plays and have the quality to deliver.

"We defended fantastically well but up until the penalty Paul Gallacher had very little to do. Over the 90 minutes few could deny we were the better team and deserved to go through. That builds our confidence after what happened to us there a few weeks ago. The next round will not be easy; look what happened with Arbroath they got a goal and a replay (v Celtic). Anything can happen in a cup tie; we are in the next round and got what we wanted - a home draw."

When the winner of the postponed Dumbarton v Hamilton tie comes to East End Park in February, Andy Barrowman will miss that cup tie after his two yellow cards at Firhill on Saturday. Long before that Dunfermline have important league games coming up, starting against Livingston who the Pars had a terrific 4-0 win over earlier in the season. Jim Jefferies continued:-

"Their philosophy is to get the ball down and play it. They had one or two players missing at the time who might be back playing now."

The Manager feels that Livingston have gradually found their feet and got going.

"We are expecting a tough game; they play good football and we have been getting a lot of complements for the way we play. We will not sit back off them and let them get into their pattern."

Josh Falkingham was kneed just above his hip on Saturday making way for Joe Cardle to replace him three minutes before the half time break but he has recovered:-

"His lower back stiffened up quickly but it was more bruising and he has been able to train the last couple of days so we expect him to be fit. There's still a training day to go so its fingers crossed that nobody gets injured."

The Pars boss explained how the elements had also been conquered this week:-

"On Monday we had to go indoors because of the frost and on Tuesday the astro pitches that we can use were very slippy, frozen hard and very dangerous to train on. We couldn't do as much as we'd have liked and had to be very careful. As the day went on it actually got colder and colder; you could see the ice forming - its usually the other way around. We had to stop because the pitch was getting very dangerous."

Wednesday is the players day off and on Thursday they followed Motherwell on to their local indoor facility.

"It went well today but it is not ideal, you'd rather be out on the training pitch in the fresh air but every club will have these problems. It is one of those things that you have to accept and go along with it. I don't think anyone gains an advantage and there won't be any clubs switch on their undersoil heating; it becomes very expensive, especially at our level."