Training was cancelled on Thursday but Jim McIntyre is confident that the match against Kilmarnock will go ahead as planned on Saturday. The undersoil heating has been on and the wind has died down. The Pars gaffer would however be in favour of postponing games if the wind was to have a detrimental effect on matches:-

"It would be nice to have some sort of device that could measure the speed of the wind and definitely put games off if it gets above a certain level. The entertainment value is not there, it is certainly not enjoyable for the players or the managers."

Looking back on last Saturday's game Macca thought that the gale force attack from the reigning Scottish League Champions that Dunfermline had to sustain in the opening 25 minutes, put his side under great pressure. Apart from that, his side did give a good account of themselves.

"We started to get a foothold in the game and obviously the goal helped that. We were unfortunate with a couple of chances that we had later on in the game and we have got to take those when you go to a place like Ibrox. I thought the players did extremely well in the second half and I was proud of their performance.

"The way we defended when we were put under pressure by some very good players was equally pleasing. At times we got a lot of blocks in; okay you always need your goalkeeper to make some saves when you go to Ibrox or Parkhead because you know that you are going to face a lot of pressure, so that was pleasing. We defended in numbers and I thought that we improved as the game went on and looked a threat."

Things might have ended up very differently had Alex Keddie been as successful at scoring for his own team as he has been for the opposition recently. The Pars central defender has scored two own goals in the last two matches but his 88th minute header from a corner from the right only just cleared Allan McGregor's crossbar:-

"We had them a wee bit worried and anytime you go to these places you want to try and get their crowd on their back. That was what was happening in the closing stages of the game; you could feel the nervousness of the crowd and that transmits to the crowd sometimes. You have to take advantage of that but unfortunately we couldn't on the day and failed to put away that late chance that we had."

Kilmarnock proved to be formidable opponents when the sides first met this season at Rugby Park. The Ayrshire outfit won by the odd goal in five and Jim McIntyre recalled it as a "really good game of football" but he is the one who will be looking to have the goal advantage on this occasion.

Last Saturday eight senior players were sidelined through injury - Kevin Rutkiewicz, Paul Burns, Steven McDougall, Nick Phinn, Austin McCann, Steven Bell, Jason Thomson and Craig Easton. Of those only Paul Burns has any chance of returning to face Killie. He will face a late fitness test.

McIntyre added: ''Paddy Boyle hyper-extended his knee on Saturday against Rangers and is rated no better than 50/50 for the Kilmarnock game.

''Joe Cardle had an injection in his knee on Tuesday and he now needs ten days of total rest. That is the only real cure for his tendonitis. It is something that's very painful and Joe did really well to help us out at Ibrox. If anything we are worse off than last week."

The strength in depth of the Kilmarnock's squad will also be severely tested. Dean Shiels suffered a badly bruised foot during Killie's 2-0 win over Aberdeen at Rugby Park last weekend. Striker Paul Heffernan is also doubtful. Defenders Momo Sissoko and Billy Berntsson and midfielder Leon Panikvar have all been struck down by a bug and Dutch midfielder Danny Buijs is still sidelined with a hamstring injury. Ryan O'Leary is a long-term crock but despite all that Macca maintains it will come down to who plays best on the day:-

"I feel that we have defended better as a team in the last few weeks but we have still committed mistakes that have led to goals that shouldn't have been. We will continue to strive to do better on that front and try and keep up the good play going forward. We will keep creating chances because I am always confident that we will score goals."

Goals will be needed if Dunfermline are to get their first home win of the season and the Pars Manager says that they will be going all out to get that elusive win and give their fans something to cheer about:-

"There are several games that we should have won at home before, but we have let ourselves down and mistakes have cost us. It is up to us and until we get that win it will still be a monkey on our back."