Manager Post Stranraer
Saturday, 27th Feb 201627/02/16:- AJ - "It has been coming for a couple of weeks to be honest."
"It was a brilliant performance, a lot of good goals especially some of the decision making as well in the final third. It has been coming for a couple of weeks to be honest. We created a lot of chances in the last few weeks and maybe not taken them so it was good today to take all our chances."
The manager was pleased to see Joe Cardle notch another hattrick claiming that he was always seeking his wide players to chip in with a few goals.
"He is a constant threat when coming in on to his right foot. He has bulleted the first one into the top corner and could probably have scored more. He was really unselfish with the one he cut back for young PJ (Paul Joseph Crossan); it could probably have been easier for him to hit it in himself. He is a real threat and has been a massive player for us this year.
"It was good for young PJ to come on. I thought he did really well for his debut and was really unfortunate not to get a goal. There were a lot of pluses today."
The introduction of PJ allowed Faissal El Bakhtaoui to come off and save his energy for the two league matches coming up in the space of four days. The manager felt that his 17 year old striker deserved his chance:-
"He is scoring a lot of goals for the 20s, you can see that he is improving and it is great for the young boys to see somebody like that getting a shot and it gives them a wee bit of hope that there is a pathway through to the first team.
"He is only a young lad but he has that physical presence, he can run and obviously he is still learning. He has a long way to go but it is great to have someone like that coming on from the bench. Even the other boys who came on - David Hopkirk and Ryan Wallace - have all played a major part this year. We have a really competitive squad, we just need to make sure that we keep getting results and performances between now and the rest of the season. There are a lot of important games coming up, especially at home.
"Teams make it really difficult at East End Park when they sit in and you have to find that final pass. A lot of times it is about getting that first goal."
Brad McKay scored his second Pars goal with a 52nd minute header at a corner. The manager said it was brilliant to see his central defenders attacking the ball:-
"They were aggressive and won the majority of their headers today, they did really well. They were frustrated with us losing a goal but they played really well as a partnership."
The manager's only disappointment from the day was the inability to secure another shut out. He continued:-
"We need to get back to clean sheets again. We let the cross come in too easy and the striker has taken a great touch, turned and swivelled quite quickly. It was a great response from the players with the way they came back. It shows you that nothing fazes them no matter who you are playing against."
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