News | Manager post Peterhead

11/04/23: link to audio of James McPake`s post match comments

Dunfermline manager James McPake praised his team after the 2-0 win away to Peterhead. He told the media it was a very professional performance in tough conditions.

`Really tough. I wouldn`t say Peterhead played the conditions better in the first half, they just had the conditions (on their side). We showed when we had the conditions, it was different. It`s really tough to play in but it`s the same for both teams. You`ve got to manage it. Both teams had a lot to play for tonight with their position in the league and our position in the league.

"It was tough game in terms of that - just the energy surrounding the game, everything surrounding the game. For us and for them. They had a great result on Saturday and they were looking for another result to take them off the bottom of the league.

"It was a tough game, a tough first half but very professional in my opinion. It was never going to be pretty when we turned up here and we saw the weather. It was just do what you can do to win the game, and we done that."

Second half chances?

"I wouldn`t want to blame the wind for certain things on the first half but you saw in the second half just how it hampered Peterhead as well. It was tough out there. Second half, I wouldn`t say we were wasteful in terms of the chances because we had a good go at it, got in the right areas and could have come out 4- or 5-0 in the end.

"It was all about the three points. All the talk, all the hype around this game was all pointless unless we won. We had to come up here and win, we wanted to get back to winning ways and we wanted to add to that unbeaten run as well - and we`ve done both. We will get back on the bus recover and look forward to Saturday.

Craig Wighton`s goal?

"It was great play from Lewis McCann, something Lewis has been working really hard on. It might have been on for him to shoot but he chose the right decision to pick Craig out and it was a simple finish for someone of his quality. It`s 15 for the season now. It took us a while to get the knee right at the start of the season, but we knew when we got that right we`ve got a really good striker in there. He`s proven to be that. He was probably disappointed not to start the game, but we`ve got a fantastic squad.

`When you look at the players we didn`t bring on tonight - Kevin O`Hara, Robbie Mahon, Max Little - there are players who are not coming on that are very good quality as well. I wouldn`t say it`s tough because it is a good headache to have.

`With that squad you can pick different teams. With Macca (Kyle Macdonald) coming on for Kane Ritchie-Hosler tonight the squad is really strong. Craig was one of those and I`m delighted for him that`s number fifteen and he will be looking to add to that with four games to go.`

Nikolay Todorov often unlucky to start but he contributed with a goal?

"One thing about the big man is he trains fantastically. He got on Saturday but there are games when he doesn`t get on. His attitude never changes, that`s all you can ever ask. It`s not easy when you are that player. They all think they should be playing, which we want, they want to be pushing their team mates, but he never lets me down, he never lets the football club down and he never lets his teammates down.

`I`m delighted that he got the goal, it was a fantastic pass from Joe (Chalmers). A great pick out and a great touch and finish. It is another important goal. The number of times we look at Nikolay and the goals that he does score, they are very important. It was important that we got that first goal tonight. The big man produced again, so I`m delighted for him."

Substitution

Did you almost change your mind about taking Nikolay off when he scored?

`No, going back to the squad, when you can bring Craig Wighton on, I could have brought Kevin O`Hara on, Chris Mochrie and Paul McGowan came on and I`m delighted for Paul Allan to come back as well. When you have that strong a squad then I think you just stick with your decision. If we had drawn the game I would have blamed somebody else.

`It proved to be the right decision, Craig got the (second) goal and it made it a comfortable evening for us. That`s the beauty of this team. They don`t sulk, they don`t moan when they are not playing. Yeah they will not be happy but that`s fine, you would expect that. They come on and just work away. They work hard because they all love being part of it and they have all been a part of it throughout the full season.

`Thirty two games now, one defeat and they have all put their shoulder to the wheel. They have all shown quality. There`s a couple in there - Deniz and Kyle Benedictus who have played every minute of every game. When you see that and ones who have been out, coming back in, starting - ones like Paul Allan now back. It is great to work with them because they train very well, they play very well and like Saturday they never know when they are beat.`

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