Manager on Thursday

12/09/19: SC - “We know that we need to remain positive and have a belief within ourselves.”

“We are frustrated at results and with where we are at the moment but we have worked hard this week on how we are going to approach the Inverness game” Stevie Crawford told the media.

“In their last two games Inverness have scored eight goals against Morton and conceded just the one. They have got threats in the attacking third at the moment and they are a physical side. James Keatings has been added and I worked him with at Hearts. He has hit a patch of form, so there are reminders there for us.

“We have to focus on the parts of the game on Saturday that we were happy with and also the sides of the game that we need to do better as well. We have addressed some of those issues and hopefully they will come to fruition come Saturday.

“When I watched the game back we were restricted with width due to Ryan Dow being out of the team. We went with a certain formation to try and play in behind Gabby McGill (pictured below).

“The game didn’t go the way we were hoping at that point. Towards the end of the game we kept at them, we kept trying to get crosses into the box and it was the final bit of quality that we need to address.

“The results aren’t what we are looking for at this moment in time. It is just remaining positive and having a belief that we can start scoring more goals.”

Asked about the likelihood of Ryan Dow’s return, Stevie replied:-

“Ryan has not been actively in with the group. He has been running with Kevin Bain (physio) and we will see where he is at. There has been a decent improvement in him from last Friday.

“Ryan is keen to make himself available, we don’t want to rush him back and knock him back three or four other games because of it. I have every faith in my physio department with Kevin and John that they will give us the best chance to make Ryan (pictured below)available for selection.”

Another wide option is also out with injury, Stevie said:-

“When we got Anthony McDonald in I said at the time that there had been an issue with Anthony’s back from the reserve game he played that previous Tuesday. It is just not at the stage where we had hoped.

“It is not going to have an impact on us financially because we had looked after ourselves in that respect. We knew what we were getting in terms of Anthony’s fitness levels at the time. We are just hoping that he is on the mend and can make himself available for selection. That will be between Kevin and the Hearts physio staff.”

After picking up a hamstring injury in the match against Alloa last Saturday, defender Tom Lang (pictured below)is not of a long term nature and the gaffer is hopeful that Tom will only be out for a couple of weeks.

Lewis McCann has been on international duty with the Northern Ireland U21s. He came off the bench in the latter half of the second half against Malta in a 0-0 draw and he started on Tuesday night in Finland where the match ended 1-1.

Harry Cochrane returned unscathed from Hearts Colts Tunnock’s Caramel Wafer Cup defeat to Waterford in Ireland. The manager is looking forward to getting his contributions to the team:-

“He has quality in him, he is desperate to kick start his career but also to do well for Dunfermline. When we look back at the Alloa game Greg Kiltie came in for his first start and he took his goal well. You could see the quality in Greg, he has got an awareness of people round about him and it is trying to get the balls into him so that he can produce that on a more regular basis.

“Because of results it becomes a more competitive market for that starting place. The reality is we know that we need to start turning games round and winning games of football. The players and coaching staff are disappointed but we remain positive that we are going to do it.”

Pictured above: Harry Cochrane on his Pars debut at Arbroath

Stevie acknowledged that criticism has been made and claimed that he would not definitely not hide from it:-

“I know where I want to take this club to and results at the moment are hurting, trust me they are hurting. In my experience of working with players I believe that we will turn this corner.

“There are fine margins and we have to get back to the belief and being positive, trying to play passes forward. Nobody is going to get on their backs here if that is the case.

“The way results have gone we have gone a bit into our shells and missing that bit to go and express ourselves. I am going to continue to ask them to be brave. Sometimes people watching it don’t see that.

“Not good enough at the moment but very much all our direction and energy is to take this club forward. We have got to put on a performance that the fans get behind us.

“I think I am quite open when I speak to the press and anybody about. They are right to be asking why we are not getting results. I only need to trace that back to the Dundee and St Mirren games when there was energy, a freshness and enthusiasm.

“There were parts in the Alloa game that we need to bring out more. It is the other side of it that isn’t allowing us to go and win games. The GPS results reveal we covered more ground in the Alloa game than we covered all season. That maybe sounds strange because people will question the work rate and the ethic but that is the highest that we have touched.

“The high intensity running wasn’t there, there were variables but we are trying to cover bases to try and allow us to win games of football. The boys know that they covered the ground, but did we cover the ground at an intensity.

“GPS is there for a reason, it doesn’t necessarily win you games of football. There are traits that we are looking at to try and get a consistency to win games.”

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