James McPake is pleased that his team has now gone three matches unbeaten and he is hoping to build on that in the next two league matches, both of which are at home. He also announced the good news that Kyle Benedictus will be in the squad for Saturday. Speaking at lunchtime he said:-
“We’re just delighted to get the win last Friday night and going up to Inverness is always a tough place to go. We did well enough in the game, although it wasn’t a great game of football. It was boring, poor, whatever you want to call it but you’ve still got to defend and make big saves.”
No save was greater than Deniz Mehmet’s 18th minute penalty save from Inverness Caley Thistle skipper Billy McKay, although James still doesn’t think that it was a penalty anyhow:-
“I think it’s a foul to us. Cammy Kerr does well to get on it, but I think with how high his foot is it’s a foul on Paul (Allan) but justice was done with the save. There wasn’t really much else. Den doesn’t have much to do, Jak has the chance and we had a couple of dangerous setplays that came to nothing. It was a good performance in terms of the clean sheet. We’re looking solid again, so hopefully we can take that into Saturday.”
Ayr United issue warning
In addition to winning their most recent two away league encounters at Airdrie and Queen’s Park, Ayr United also emerged victorious from their season’s opening match at KDM Group East End Park in October. The manager has undoubtedly observed Tuesday’s excellent 4-3 victory over Partick Thistle on Saturday. Following what would have seemed to be a dismal 2-1 home loss to Raith Rovers, Ayr had the ideal response. James cautioned while he was at Somerset Park to observe that one.
This season, they have defeated us and drawn with us after we had defeated them 2-0. Their operations have slightly altered, as you would expect from any time a new manager takes over. It will be a tough game.”
This season, Dunfermline has gained 18 points from 13 away games, as opposed to merely 11 from its twelve home games. Following their nine-game losing streak, James would like to see an improvement in his team’s home performance:
“We’ve had greater success away from home than we did the previous year,” It’s true that we need to start winning games again. Remove the Arbroath game from the equation. We were disappointed in that game because we produced enough opportunities to win it, but they caught us at a setplay.
The importance of a victory
“Any time you’re away to Partick and away to Inverness, if they said you’ll win one and draw one, you would take it. You wouldn’t care what way round it was. Looking from the outside, given the way Partick were going and where they are in the league in comparison to Inverness, it probably looked more likely to go to Maryhill and get a draw and win at Inverness if the four points were a guarantee.
“The big thing was just to get the win again. It had been going on for so long. It wasn’t papering over it but I was probably getting annoyed and the players were probably getting fed up hearing that we had done well but hadn’t won the game. We needed that feeling again and I’m delighted we could get it last Friday night.
“I know there were bits in the game – disallowed goals and whatever – but I still think we did enough in the Partick game to win it. I think we had the better chances in the game – Matty Todd’s one that hits the post as well – albeit Thistle’s second goal was onside. I would debate if their first one was onside, I think he was off but we got a bit fortunate after Brad missing the ball.”
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