Preview St Mirren

Leishman:- "It is what happens on the day and we have to go and perform at our best."

Saturday`s meeting with St Mirren will be the first match between the clubs since April 2001 when the Paisley club were despatched to Division One. This will be the 100th match between the clubs in League and Cups with the Pars holding the advantage overall with 43 wins to Saints 36. League outcomes mirror the overall record.

There have been some memorable matches against St Mirren.  They were the club that the Pars defeated in the 1961 Scottish Cup Semi Final before going on to win the Cup for the first ever time. Then there was the record home win the following season when the legendary Charlie Dickson scored a double hatrick. 

There was the remarkable 5-1 win on 14th October 1989 back when Leish was in charge first time around; a match in which Istvan Kozma scored a hatrick. Jim recalls:- "It was great, one of the best and quickest hatricks I have seen by a Dunfermline player. St Mirren had a lot of good players at that time too; Kenny MacDowell and Campbell Money".

Ironically St Mirren won the last encounter at East End Park.

Dunfermline are likely to be without Freddie Daquin out with a hamstring injury that he picked up against Rangers in midweek but he might well only have been on the bench since Stevie Crawford is a cert to comeback into the starting line up.  Jim Leishman has every respect for the opposition:-

"Gus MacPherson is a good lad and with Andy Millen his assistant are very enthusiastic.  They are good young coaches who have put together a good team, a team that is working hard for each other.  We have got to match that enthusiasm and endeavour."

Four places above Dunfermline, St Mirren, have ten points, Dunfermline only five but Leish added:-

"People will say that this is the kind of game that we should be winning but Gus knows that it is an important game for him as well. They have had hard games this week as well. They went to Parkhead on Tuesday and had a hard game; last Saturday was tough against Kilmarnock so they are all hard games.  It is what happens on the day and we have to go and perform at our best."

Referee for this, Dunfermline`s last home match until 21st October, is Craig Mackay.  His first Pars match since the January defeat at home to Hearts but the whistler is better remembered for being in charge at Celtic Park in November last year when the Pars won their first away match of the SPL season.