Managers post Queen of the South

20/10/18: Link to audio of both managers post match comments

Dunfermline manager Allan Johnston said that the 1-0 home defeat against his old club was a ‘sore one to take’.

“There was only one team that looked as though they were going to win. We had so much possession and so many chances but when you are that much on top you have to take your chances when they come along.

“The keeper had a couple of good saves but we still have to be more clinical. That is the difference. Then you are always under pressure, you are trying to force the game, trying to win and obviously we got caught on the counterattack. That is poor from us especially having been so much on top. The least we should have come away with today was a draw. For me, I thought we did enough to win.”

AJ felt that the game should have been won long before Queen of the South snatched their late winner.

“We had some really good chances, got in really good areas, put crosses in the box, had a lot of possession. They had probably one shot on target and it’s a goal. That is our luck at the moment.

“In the final third there needs to be more quality, more composure and we have to start scoring goals again. It puts you under pressure if you do not take your chances.”

Is that a worry to the manager, is it a familiar tale?

“You are totally right, in the games we have played we have not scored enough goals. For the players we have got, for the areas that we get in and as you can see the way we are dominating the game, the crosses in the box we have got to have people working the keeper with more shots.

“That is the frustrating part and something that we have to work on. We are not far away. You can see by the way we played, it is not as if they cut us open with any play. It is not as though they had millions of chances, they had one chance and they took it. We need to improve.”

The manager agreed that we have to expect teams to come and sit in when they play Dunfermline at East End Park.

“The make it difficult but we have got to be good enough to break that down. We have to have that wee bit of imagination to get by somebody, or one twos or overlaps to create that wee bit of space.

“Then we get there as we did today with loads of opportunities but you have to pick the right pass. That is what good players do, that is what we need to work on. It is a disappointing result, obviously the league is very tight at the moment but we are shooting ourselves in the foot because we threw away so many points this season when we shouldn’t have.”

No games in the Championship are easy but the next two at home to Dundee United and away to Inverness Caledonian Thistle will be particularly hard to take points from. AJ commented:-

“There are no easy games, you can see teams like Queens coming to defend for 90 minutes. We have the onus to go and break them down and win the game. We should have been out of sight again but as I said we have shot outselves in the foot.”

The match saw on loan striker Aidan Keena (pictured above) make his debut when coming off the bench in 79 minutes. The manager said:-

“It was difficult for him. He has good movement in the box, we have seen that in training and we were hoping for him to get on the crosses we were putting in that he would maybe get a half chance because he is a good finisher. He never really got on the end of anything but hopefully we can improve that side of the game.”

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