Manager on Thursday
Thursday, 23rd Mar 2017Allan Johnston feels that his side did not get their fair reward for dominating the match against Ayr United last Saturday.
"We are disappointed to be where we are and disappointed with the result. We just never took our chances, we were not clinical enough.
"You would be more worried if you never created the chances in the first place but we created plenty, we had the majority of the pressure, we played in their half the majority of the time and it was just that bit of composure in the final third, to take your chances or picking the right pass, that let us down. It is something that we need to improve on."
From looking the most likely to open the scoring Dunfermline encountered a stuffily defensive Ayr once they took the 49th minute lead.
"They got a lot of people behind the ball especially when they got the goal. It gave them a big lift, something to hold on to and defend."
Results elsewhere tightened the league table and the manager claimed that consequently makes every game meaningful.
"There is no team going to take their foot off the gas. Everybody is going to have hard games between now and the end of the season. We have probably made life difficult for ourselves by getting too many draws. We could quite easily have won a lot of those games but now we just need to show that fighting spirit and make sure that we have better quality than the teams round about us."
Three points from the game against Ayr could have brought fourth placed Dundee United within touching distance but instead the gap is eight points and bottom placed St Mirren are only five points away from the Pars.
"We have just got to focus on ourselves, there is no point worrying about what other teams are doing. We have got to make sure that we do what we do best. Make sure that we get results, win then it doesn`t matter what any other team does. Just focus on ourselves."
The manager conceded that Morton`s home record is formidable:-
"They have an incredible record and they have been one of the surprise packages this season. They have done really really well. Obviously in the first season that they were up, a bit like ourselves maybe they consolidated a bit, had a good season and then second season kicked on again.
"They are doing really well just now and we know that it is going to be a difficult game. They have a lot of good players, a lot of energy in their team and still fighting for that place in the play offs."
Morton can have aspirations to catch Hibs in the automatic promotion place. They sit seven points behind the Edinburgh side with a game in hand. Furthermore the two meet at Easter Road on Wednesday night. AJ commented on their strengths starting with a former Par:-
"Ross Forbes has scored a lot of goals, he is a real threat and creates a lot of chances. Tom O`Ware for a centre half has scored a lot as well. That is something that we probably need to improve on as well. Getting goals from other areas, not just from our strikers.
"Morton have overachieved this season and done amazingly well. I don`t think there has been much between us in the games against them this season. We have to make sure that we have a strong end to the season."
On the injury front Andy Geggan and Paul McManus who were sidelined last weekend due to injury, trained today. Ben Richards-Everton is now back running and hopefully Lewis Martin can be available in the next week.
If McManus is not fit for Saturday the manager predicted he is unlikely to be fit to join the Scotland Under 21s for their match on Tuesday.
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