Manager on Thursday
Thursday, 23rd Jul 2015Allan Johnston is looking forward to kicking off his managerial career with Dunfermline.
He feels that the preparations for the first competitive match against Arbroath have come together well. He told this website:-
"It has been a decent pre season with a lot of good performances. We were disappointed with the Hibs result but I think that there were more positives to come out of the game than negatives. The biggest negative is that we are going to lose Jason Talbot (suspended) for a couple of games which will be a big loss to us."
The manager smiled at the irony of Nick Walsh, the referee who sent Talbot off in last Saturday's friendly being in charge of the Petrofac Cup tie at Arbroath:-
"It happens, it is a small world and we just have to deal with it. I'm sure that there won't be any problem there."
A couple more players are still required to be added to the squad and Allan Johnston said:-
"We are probably a couple of players off where we want to be. The players who have come in have done really well and we have a lot of good young ones as well. There is good competition in the squad already."
That was no greater in evidence than in the Under 20s first pre season friendly at Kinross on Tuesday night where Johnston watched them defeat Super League champions, Kelty Hearts.
"That was a really young team against an experienced team. For these young boys to handle that and play the way they did speaks volumes for them."
The manager also took in the Rangers Under 20s friendly at Murray Park last Friday but that was particularly to watch their opponents Arbroath:-
"We know the majority of their players, obviously Sandy Clark knows them (as Assistant Manager at Albion Rovers and playing against Arbroath), probably better than I know them. They have some talented players who can cause us problems but we can't worry about the opposition. We just need to go into the game and make sure that we come away with the win."
Gayfield with its position on the North Sea coast will no doubt create its own difficulties for the visitors, something Allan Johnston knows from personal experiences:-
"I have played there a few times with Queen of the South and know that it will be a tough test this early in the season. The boys are all looking forward to it and hopefully we can start off the campaign with a win."
The absence of Jason Talbot is unfortunate given that full back is one of the positions where the squad is not massively covered:-
"It is one position where we are trying to bring in somebody else so Jason's absence does cause us problems but it is an opportunity for somebody else to go and grasp."
That opportunity may fall to Lewis Martin who played 65 minutes on Tuesday after being out with a back strain.
"He was only back a few days when he got an illness that he was off for about a week with. He has been really unlucky just with the timing but he is a fit lad and it won't take him long to get up to speed."
Allan who won the Challenge Cup while manager of Queen of the South aims to make Saturday a winning start.
"It is all about confidence, especially when you look at the season the club had and it is important that we give the fans something to shout about by starting well."
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