Managers Post Hibs

06/07/17: "I think we have got players capable of doing a lot better than that as a team, individually, collectively - we have to lift our game"
Link to audio of both managers

Allan Johnston thought that his team was a bit flat against Hibs and that it was a poor game from his point of view:-

"We never created enough chances and McGinn came on in the second half to run the show. He set up three goals I think. It just shows you a wee bit of quality stands out a mile.

"We didn`t have that quality, we gave the ball away under no pressure. It is our second game but we know that we have a long way to go before we get to the standard that we want to be at."

The Pars performance was undoubtedly better in the first half than it was in the second and there were chances in the opening 45 minutes for David Hopkirk and Nicky Clark. The manager stressed that you have to take your chances when they come:-

"I thought we could have done a lot more. We broke at times but sometimes we just play in front of teams when we could be more of a threat getting in behind teams where it counts.

"When they scored the second goal in the second half you see the heads going down a bit and Hibs getting a lift from that. We have to do better than that, it was really really flat in the second half.

"It is pre season but I think we have got players capable of doing a lot better than that as a team, individually, collectively - we have to lift our game, it is as simple as that. We are looking forward to the games coming up."

Asked if he had learned anything from looking at Trialist Michael Coulston and Cammy King, AJ said:-

"They just played a small part tonight, there is a game tomorrow and a game on Monday. We are probably short of three or four players, we have a couple injured as well but hopefully they can help us be a lot stronger."

Asked about interest in former Kilmarnock and Rangers player Dean Shiels, Allan confessed that he is one of a number of players that he is looking at. He feels that the 32 year old Irishman might give his side a bit more creativity.

"I am sure that there will be a lot of teams interested. There are loads of players out there that we are looking at, time will tell who we bring in."

David Hopkirk and Kallum Higginbotham appeared to pick up knocks in the match but AJ said that there was nothing serious.

"The main thing in these games is to get through them without getting injured and picking up too many injuries. It is about performance as well so that is the frustrating part about tonight because we can do a lot better than that."

Declan McManus who might play a small part in Monday`s friendly against his former club Raith Rovers on Monday night. The manager explained:-

"The last thing we want to do is to play him for too long and he picks up a niggle. It is more important that he is ready for the games at the start of the season."

Another of the new signings Aaron Splaine show a fair amount of bite in the friendly collecting a yellow card.

"He did some really good things and he did some poor things as well. That is what he has to learn, he has not played a lot of football recently so he needs to get games under his belt and get up to speed. You can see with some of the things he does that he has ability but he has to learn from his mistakes as well."

Asked about the experimental 3-4-3 formation that he started with AJ replied:-

"It was alright although as we said we created a few chances in the first half. We still need to be more of a goal threat. It was disappointing to lose the opening goal in the manner that we did - just switching off, we could have defended it a lot better."

Having mentioned a closed doors match on Friday, the manager expanded:-

"Obviously a lot of the boys, especially the younger ones never played tonight and some who didn`t play a lot tonight will play part of the game tomorrow alongside some of the younger ones."