Manager looking for lift from Betfred games

16/07/18: AJ - "The experience at Tynecastle was good for the supporters, good for the team and you could see what a difference it made to the players."

Allan Johnston looks ahead to the start of competitive matches. He said:-

"We welcome back Jim McInally and his Peterhead team in the Betfred Cup for the second season running. Peterhead we know will be a tough test this early in the season and we can expect a stuffy game where they will make it difficult for us but hopefully with the quality we have got, we can get the win.

“It is great to get back to competitive fixtures again even though it is really early in the season. There has been a big overhaul of players, a lot of new ones and it has been a busy and stressful summer. We are glad that it is starting to take shape and hopefully we can go on and have a successful season.

“We wanted to keep our better players but unfortunately some of them moved on. That is part and parcel of football but it gives somebody else an opportunity. I think that we have brought in some decent players who are at a good age and still want to improve. They want to kick on their careers and hopefully that will be to our advantage.

“We are delighted to get Faissal El Bakhtaoui on board. I think everybody knows how much I like Faiss. We have been trying hard the whole summer trying to sort things out with Dundee. They were waiting to get players in before he would be allowed to go so we are just delighted to get the deal over the line. Faiss has a bit of everything, he is a top player, he has a great work ethic, great skill and that is the type of quality that can make a difference in games. I`m sure that he will give us a massive lift.

"You can see that we are getting there, we have been improving game by game and we just have to keep on doing that. You can see the squad is starting to take shape and we are starting to get more competition now throughout the whole squad.

"The game on Thursday night against Motherwell was definitely competitive, it was a hard fought game especially first half. Before that we had good warm up games against East Fife and Raith Rovers but the home game against Tranmere Rovers was disappointing. The goals we lost were sloppy, we have to do better and learn quickly but pre season is false so it is good to get back to competitive fixtures again.

"I feel that the Betfred Cup is still part of pre season and the build up, but you do want to win every game. It is important that we keep on progressing and ready for the first league game.

"You can see how much a lift winning our Betfred group gave us last year. The experience at Tynecastle was good for the supporters, good for the team and you could see what a difference it made to the players. We want to do that again."

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