Manager post Forfar Athletic

09/04/16: AJ - "We lost poor goals but dominated the ball, had all the possession and we should have won the game quite comfortably

Speaking after being held to a 2-2 draw at home against ninth placed Forfar Athletic, Allan Johnston felt that his team should have defended better.

"We made all the play but gave Forfar a lift by giving them easy goals. I think the two goals we lost were poor we have to do a lot better especially the second one. We passed the ball better, we created more chances, just maybe sometimes that wee bit of end product (was missing) as we have talked about before.

"Obviously we scored two goals and you should win the game when you score two goals. Moff was a bit unlucky with the penalty, he has never missed a penalty of the last thirty so he cannot believe it. Never mind missing one, he missed two! That happens sometimes."

Asked about his opinion on the added time penalty decision by referee Craig Charleston, the Dunfermline manager referred back to a disallowed goal when Brad McKay was penalised for climbing on a defender at a second half corner kick:-

"If you give a free kick against Brad for the first one he scored, then you have to give a penalty for exactly the same thing. The boy (Thomas O'Brien) was all over Brad so it is a penalty. He either allows our goal that Brad scored or he gives us a penalty. We got the penalty and obviously we were disappointed not to score it and win the game."

What was the manager's take on the decision to retake the penalty after Michael Moffat had sent the first attempt over the crossbar.

"The boys said that the referee spoke to them before the penalty and told them to stay out of the box. Seemingly they were quite far in. I would need to see it again but I think that is why it was taken again.

"It hit the post, you cannot blame Michael, he has scored two so he was there for his hattrick. Naturally he is going to take it. He has never missed a penalty before as he was telling everybody before, that he always tells everyone! That happens sometimes."

The team selection showed six changes from the previous game and the manager explained that was for reasons of looking at the contribution his squad players can offer.

"I know what the boys who have been here all season and play regularly in games offer. We just have to freshen things up and let other boys have a chance to see if they are going to get contracts for next year.

"I thought they did dominate the game. We lost poor goals but dominated the ball, had all the possession and we should have won the game quite comfortably but we never. Forfar in recent results beat Ayr and Peterhead so it was never going to be an easy game. Their two strikers are a handful but it doesn't matter what team we put out, we should still win the game.

"The most pleasing thing was seeing Ryan Williamson back. I thought he was fantastic for the majority of the game he played. You could see that he tired towards the end. Young Conner Duthie came in too and did really well but you could see he tired as well.

"The boys have not played a lot of game time so it is a great opportunity for us to get them ready for next year."

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