Manager Post Cowdenbeath

14/05/14: JJ - " It will be a better game on Sunday for a lot of reasons.

Listen to this Jim Jefferies interview

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Jim Jefferies felt that football was the loser on Wednesday night in the Championship play off final first leg at Central Park:-

"Our surface will be a lot better than that one was. You think it looks alright from the stand until you go on it and then see where the passes go. The pitch is very tight here and they seemed to have brought it in even further than I have seen it in the past. It made for probably one of the worst games of football you could put down.

"It was down to the size of pitch, everybody can launch it in there if you have somebody with a half decent throw it is like a corner. You need to take advantage of that and they threw things in all night, we threw things in all night and that's where the goals came from. There was never any chance of a goal from open play because it was two narrow and with the way the two teams set up there is no space. It will be different on Sunday."

The Pars manager will not underestimate the Championship club despite having home advantage and hopefully a big support behind them:-

"Cowdenbeath have had some good results away from home. If we play as well as we did on Saturday against Stranraer then it will take a very good performance to beat us.

"It is a bit disappointing after getting in front that we lose a goal like we did. It was clearly a foul on Danny Grainger, his opponent has his hands up on top of him and the referee was giving other things all night for anything like that. I don't think the referee did the game any favours tonight either. There was a bit of a hefty challenge just before that and the boy was lucky to stay on.

"There is all to play for on Sunday, we are at home, our surface is good and a bit bigger so it should suit our football and hopefully we can do it. We will never underestimate anybody. Cowdenbeath have some good players; they will be well organised but I have seen enough tonight to know that if we go and play as well as we can, then we should do it.

"Football is a funny game, you can dominate games and suddenly you find yourself one down. I will take a performance like we did last Saturday when we were a game down. I suppose we are in a better position than we were in the last tie.

"I don't think any team finds it easy here because the pitch is not the best. We wanted them to get it down and pass it but you could see some of the times that they are hesitant to do it because of a bobble here or there. There were quite a few tonight. It just made for a frantic game because of what is at stake.

"The only way I could see a goal coming was either from a corner kick which is like a chip into the box or from long balls in. It is the same for both teams; the boy McKeown throws long balls in - they used it as a tactic and wee used Danny (Grainger). That was where the two goals came from and that's the only way I could see a goal being scored unless there was a mistake and we nearly made one just before half time.

"It was the first time that they got over us and caused us bother. Two against one at the back and young Ryan showed inexperience. He should have played the ball in. He is out of position and he left Hemmings one on one against Whittle. We know Hemmings is fast and quick; we were caught out a bit there but Scully made a great save. It would have been a travesty if we had gone behind to a goal like that. There wasn't any danger all night.

"We defended well. I thought Kerr Young was superb tonight; the boys at the back all dealt with the throw ins into the box brilliantly. So did they to be fair, but on a bigger pitch we will be able to get our football going and hopefully make a few chances and put the ball in the net."

JJ will not allow his side to get complacent just because they got a draw at Central Park and so at half time in the tie it stands level at 1-1:-

"There is still a lot of work to be done but I suppose everybody will say that the advantage swings to us. It will be a better game on Sunday for a lot of reasons.

"We need to play as well as we can because Cowdenbeath can play better - it is not easy for them to play here. It was the same for both teams but if you want a good game of football, entertaining with what's at stake you ain't going to get it out there. You cannot blame the teams for that. Both had to adapt to the conditions put in front of them. Both of them will get better conditions, better space and better surface on Sunday so hopefully whoever is the best team on Sunday will come out on tops and we hope that is us."

The first leg draw will encourage more fans along for the return at East End Park on Sunday afternoon predicted Jefferies:-

"It is level pegging and there is 90 minutes to get promoted. Hopefully we will get a big crowd, Cowdenbeath will bring a few and maybe we can get somewhere up around seven or eight thousand there.

"It is all on one game and when Dunfermline have played games like that, they have always come out and got behind the team. That made the difference last week, they were great and the atmosphere made it. It helped us get through it and hopefully they can help us on Sunday.

"We will have to work hard to get it. Do not think that just because we got a result here at Cowdenbeath that we have won the tie. It is only half time and it was only half time last week when we were 2-1 down, this week we are going in level so it just takes one more goal than them to put us through. We will be trying like we did against Stranraer to score as many as we can."  MATCH PICTURES

Listen to Jimmy Nicholl post match comments