Manager post Airdrieonians

Jim Jefferies was pleased to see his team finally take their chances in matches.

-- Listen to this Jim Jefferies Inteview

"We have been saying that the team has been playing well and today we have scored three goals and I thought that we could have had two or three more.

"In the opening ten minutes Airdrie had a great chance that forced Scully to make a great save. It was a through ball after we had given the ball away in midfield and got caught there. It was due to a sloppy pass in the middle of the park that should never have happened. It seemed to provide the wee jolt that we needed and from there on we controlled the game and played some great football.

"They have been playing well, it is just that they have not taken their chances when they come around. It was nice to get in front for a change and when you get the first goal it makes all the difference.

"We got another one soon after it and I just thought that most of the time we were on top and they were having a hard time keeping us out. Airdrie worked hard and they are always liable to hit you on the break when we were pushing forward.

"There were some really good performances and nice to see Gozie get a couple of goals. He was been doing pre season training on his own and not had any pre season games so you are caught between trying to give him games and finding his fitness.

"He started last week and didn't do too badly, he came on the other night there against Falkirk but I thought today he showed just exactly what he is, he is a big handful up front. When you play the ball in to him you have a chance of running off him and he showed some good skills today.

"It was a fantastic back heeled when he set up Forbes, it should have been in the net. Then he scored a great goal at the end using his power and pace to get away from the defence. That is exactly what he is all about and today he showed that he can be a real handful."

The manager felt that his team put in a really good performance in seeing off Airdrie:-

"Spence was again outstanding, Martin at the back and it was good to have Buchanan back because he is a commanding figure against Lister. He took care of the striker because he is dangerous and strong in the air. I thought we didn't have a failure in the whole team.

"Ross Millen played really well and he had to switch over to left back when Ross Drummond twisted his ankle. Geggan had a tight hamstring, Thomson came on, found his feet a bit and showed some good touches and strength around about the box.

"We were never down because of the results. If we had taken our chances against Falkirk we would have won it, if we had taken our chances last week at Forfar, we would have won it. We took them today and we had a clean sheet, so it has been a good weekend for us."

The management and players will be in on Sunday to prepare for the League Cup match against St Mirren. The manager promised to go to St Mirren and try and give account of themselves.

"We will try and cause a shock but we can look forward to it, buzzing before we go into the next league game down at Stranraer on Saturday. We need to take today and go on a wee run. That should just give them that lift that they were needing.

"There was a lot of pressure on them today to win because of the previous two results. It wasn't too much of a concern because the team had been playing well and they showed that again today."

Airdrie's record at East End Park is good but the manager had dismissed the issue of them being a bit of a bogey team preferring to focus his players on their opponents bad start as well. Jefferies continued:-

"They are a side who have brought a lot of players in because they have lost five or six players, us taking one of them. I said not to be bothered about league positions until we are eight to ten games in. The fact that where we were at the bottom of the league is false at the moment. We knew that they would get better and hopefully that will be after today. I thought we were well worthy of the result today and 3-0 was fair.

"Our goals today were all well created goals and hopefully we can now move on, keep playing the same way, keep making the chances and keep taking. That's Gozie improving; if he can build on to that performance and go on, I think we will give a lot of defences tough times this year.

"Even the boys who came on today, Ryan Williamson and Ross Forbes used the ball well. Thommo showed some good touches around about the box to get in there. It was a good all round performance today.

"I said last week that I wasn't too down because we had played well, we played really well against Falkirk but you have to stick the ball in the net to win games, that is what we did today."

-- Listen to Airdrie manager Gary Bollan`s thoughts

Gary Bollan feels that next Saturday's match against Stirling is a must win!