Saturday 26th January, 2013 at 9:23pm
It was a deserved, if narrow, win over Cowdenbeath yesterday and after the game manager Jackie McNamara confessed that another goal at least would have been nice. .
“I think we could have done with a third goal. We got that last week against Falkirk. Today we didn’t and that made things a bit edgy. It’s important to try and put a game to bed. A big thing for me was, unlike the Livingston game when we put a late corner into the box, that this time we tried to see out the game. If we had done that at Livingston we would have a couple more points right now. The players are learning though.”
Jackie continued;
“Today I felt that we were a little edgy in the final third although I thought that we had a valid goal disallowed when Sean Welsh put the ball in. I felt that the goalkeeper dropped the ball. It was a good three points for us though. We played better last week and we were disappointed to go a goal down to what was just a flick on. We responded well though to go in at the break 2-1 ahead.”
It was Conrad Balatoni that scored the goal to put us 2-1 ahead and the manager felt that goal atoned for an earlier mistake from the centre half.
“He’s scored three in two games for us now. I think that he was at fault for their goal so he managed to make amends for that.”
Jackie was quick to acknowledge that Cowdenbeath had made things difficult for his side.
“I think that we need to give Cowdenbeath credit. They’ve brought in some players on loan who have done well for them. Hemmings who scored the goal was a threat and they’ve also got Caddis whose come down from the SPL with St Johnstone. From my point of view I’m happy to see my players are getting into good positions and getting crosses into the box. It’s just a case of getting on the end of those crosses and kill the game off.”
Jackie has little doubt that he has the players that can go on and secure a place in next season’s SPL.
“I’ve a squad that are capable of winning promotion, they perhaps just need a bit more belief in their own ability. They’ve shown that they can play football, they just need a bit more of a cutting edge. As I said it was a good three points today. I said to the players after the game that was a match that last season we would have lost or drawn after losing the first goal. There’s an expectation from the crowd and after the loss if the goal the crowd was quiet in the first half and the players had to try and generate the crowd and the atmosphere. I felt that we got the goals at the right time.”
Focus is now on next Saturday and another fixture with Cowdenbeath.
“We’ve another very difficult match next week again against Cowdenbeath. It’s a difficult venue to get points from and we will need to be more clinical next week.”
There was also an update on Steven Lawless who underwent surgery on Friday
“Steven is a big loss. He’s been a great player for us with his goals but it’s up to the players that come in now. Today I thought that James Craigen did well in spells. It’s a squad game now and the lads that came on today I thought did well. Steven’s surgery was a great success. He got out last night and he was planning to come to the game today but he was a little groggy. We’re hoping that he will make a speedy recovery and Stephen O’Donnell we hope will be back in contention for a place in the team next week.
It was only natural that the manager was asked about the speculation linking him to the manager’s post at Dundee United.
“It’s all speculation, that’s all it is. I’m fully focused on the job that I have here. I’m very happy here and I’ll just keep on working hard.”
