Manager Post East Fife

19/10/13: JJ - "It is a game we should have won; the players know they should have won but we just didn't kill them off."

Jim Jefferies claimed that if the game had been a boxing match it would have been stopped at half time:-

"You could see East Fife's intent in the first half, they came and got behind the ball. They made it difficult and the only time they caused us a couple of problems was from our own doing. We had sloppy passes that put us in trouble but we totally dominated. We scored one goal and as we have been saying for weeks, a wee bit more composure on the final passes would have opened up a few more chances.

"Once we scored I felt that they would have a problem because they would have to open up. They didn't and at the start of the second half we had two or three good opportunities but again didn't kill them off. When it is 1-0 the other team just gets that spell in the game. Similar to that opening day of the season at East Fife, we dominated that match, went 1-0 up and couldn't kill them off but the difference was we dealt with it well when the other team got its spell. There weren't very many opportunities and we were very resilient that day.

"Today we were sloppy at throw ins which has allowed them to get in behind us. You can't give all that space to back heel the ball, it should be hitting defenders and going out for a corner. Then you have to deal with that. The last thing you need is them getting a lift from that. They could sense that they could go on and get a winner.

"Liam (Buchanan) has turned and I have said to the two big centre halves that they have been taught a lesson today. When you are marking strikers there is no point in sitting on the edge of the box and letting them drop off 20 to 25 yards out because if you allow Liam to turn he is liable to put one in the top corner, the way he did.

"There were only four minutes between the goals but East Fife have played for maybe just ten to fifteen minutes and they have scored twice in four minutes. They are away feeling lucky that they did not concede a second goal in the first 75 minutes because if they had it would probably have gone on to be more.

"I am not trying to defend the players in any way because I thought they contributed to the defeat today by being a bit sloppy in the last third. Those chances across the face of the box, Ross Millen had a cut back and these are the ones that need to go in to kill the game off. When you don't you run the risk of letting them get back into it. That's exactly what happened.

"I couldn't see us getting beat to be honest at half time. I don't think anybody in the ground could foresee us getting beat but they had that fifteen minute spell in which they scored two goals. Young boys are naive, sometimes you get away with it, sometimes you get punished. We got punished for every mistake we made.

"It is disappointing for the fans. They have had a great week and I told the players that you want to finish it off by giving the a result. In the first half some of the football was a joy to watch again, they didn't lose their patience. We had some great movement and got in behind them as few times. It was just typified when at 1-0, Thommo turned and put Rab Thomson through. It beat the defender and he is in on goals but misses the ball completely.

"If you don't get the second goal you have to be more resilient to see it through and take the points. These young kids have to grow up fast because you cannot control the game for ninety minutes.

"The substitutions that we had to make today created a bit of imbalance in the side. Jordan Moore had scored but pulled his hamstring. Ryan Wallace had worked really hard today but signalled that he was really tired with the effort he had put in and we needed to put some fresh legs on. We went 4-4-2 to match them up but sat too deep.

"That is the trouble when you are up 1-0 you are forced back, sit too deep and invite the team on to you. Our midfield players were playing 20 yards in front of our box. In the first half they were playing 20 yards outside their box. That's the difference, all caused because we could not get that second goal to kill them off. We fell into the trap of trying to be ultra cautious to save the goal but you run a risk there because you are better in the front foot with them on the back foot and the only way to do that is to continue to play the way you did in the first half. We sat off it.

"You see a lot of effort in the team but these boys have got to learn to be winners. It is hard to take because they play the game the right way but you cannot keep making basic mistakes. You are very fortunate to get away with it; East Fife made a few mistakes but they showed resilience to keep it at 1-0 and we didn't take advantage of a few opportunities. We even had a great ball into the box, Ryan Thomson got up but headed it straight into the goalkeeper's hands. If he put it either side of him or in the corner its a goal.

"Young boys have to learn that if a second goal doesn't come along you have to close people down quick, don't let them get a head of steam up. Don't let them push you back, keep at it and keep working, keep doing the right things. We just go into a wee shell that invites a team to get a sniff; we did that today again and paid the ultimate penalty by not getting a point out of a game that for the first 75 minutes we have dominated.

"East Fife got beat 4-1 last week, they would have had a bit of a roasting and they made a number of changes. He even said today that they played differently from how they have played this season - they came to play 4-1-4-1. When you have that much dominance of the ball you have to have that cutting edge to go in there and score. We got in quite a few balls that should have allowed us to do that, but we didn't. If you don't do that at 1-0 you are always going to give teams a chance.

"Look at the way they celebrated the equaliser, they would have settled for 1-1 but a 25 yarder that there was not a lot we could do about. We are not happy that the central defence allowed him to drop off and hit it because I do not see our centre forwards getting the chance to drop off, turn and hit it. He put it in the top corner with a great goal and we paid the penalty.

"It is a game we should have won; the players know they should have won but we just didn't kill them off."

Listen to this Jim Jefferies Interview

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