Manager post Airdrieonians

Comments from Allan Johnston and link to audio of Airdrieonians manager Danny Lennon.

Allan Johnston admitted that his team's performance against Airdrieonians had been really poor in the first half:-

"What can you say when you get beat 3-0 by Airdrie. To be fair I have to take responsibility for that. We changed it to go three at the back. Even though we changed the system I think the goals are really poor defending, especially when you lose a goal in the first minute from a corner.

"We had a lot of height today but you have just got to battle and make sure that you don't lose the header. He gets a free header and that was disappointing especially losing a goal right at the start of the game. It gave them a big lift.

"The second goal was just the keeper kicking it from a free kick and all it was a header. We didn't match the runners and he was through on goal - far far too easy.

"I know that there are boys who have not played for a wee while but it was difficult because we changed the system. I have to take the blame for that.

"We never worked on it. We thought because there have been a few boys missing this week through illness or injury, they have not really had a chance to work on it. It probably showed with some of the goals we lost, but saying that there were still individual errors as well.

"The third one was a cross into the box; we have to stop crosses and when it comes into the box we can't allow a free header either. I don't think we were anywhere near where we have been since the start of the season.

"We went back to 4-4-2 midway through the first half but even then we need to be more of a threat going forward. I thought we competed in the second half well enough but it still wasn't good enough. There weren't enough crosses into the box, not enough shots on target and that is what we have been good at this year.

"You cannot afford to lose goals in the manner in which we did. We made it really difficult for ourselves by losing poor goals."

Do the players feel embarrassed and feel for the fans who travelled through to the Excelsior?

"The players are very low in there and rightly so. It was a poor performance, they know that. That is two weeks in a row that it has not been good enough but it just shows you when that bit of quality is missing, it makes a huge difference.

"You can see how much the big players make a difference, especially going forward. Guys like Michael Paton and Joe Cardle - both had strains today and Joe is struggling a bit with his hamstring, hopefully he will be back next week. Michael Paton has a slight strain and I don't know if he will be back next week.

"You can obviously see that we miss Faiss as well with his energy, pace and his goalscoring ability as well."

Having conceded seven goals in two games did the manager expect big changes for next Saturday's final match at home to Peterhead?

"We have been making big changes - we are missing five or six players every week just because other people are playing and the contract scenario. We are looking at boys who are just coming back from long term injury and maybe boys who haven't played as well.

"We have been mixing it about in the last few games, that is difficult to do and you are asking for trouble doing that. At the end of the day we need to make decisions on people's contracts."

Next week a bumper crowd is expected at East End Park, will we see the title winning team out?

"We will have to wait and see how Joe Cardle is, his hamstring was a bit tight so there was no point in risking him. Michael Paton as I said, he is struggling with a strain and we are hoping that he will play as well but it could be a last minute decision for him. Obviously Faiss has just come down with the same scenario, we need to look to at the strikers when we get a chance."

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