Manager on Thursday
Thursday, 25th Sep 2014"I think I would get a reaction because they know, another bad performance would force the manager to make changes and be fair to the other players."
Jim Jefferies is hoping that his team can put their poor day in Greenock behind them. Last Saturday's performance was their worst of the season so far and the home match against Peterhead provides the platform to bounce back immediately. He is approaching back to back matches against the two teams promoted out of League Two in optimism.
"After getting into the division they will be desperate to hold on to that status. They have done well in most of their games but we are back at home and after last Saturday we can target a couple of wins.
"If you look at the bigger picture we could be saying that we have won five out of the last six. Fifteen points out of eighteen you would take over six games. It is in our hands to do that starting on Saturday against a team, like everybody, will get a lift out of coming to East End Park.
"They will raise their game but I think our performances at home have been decent. Games that were tough last year, to break teams down, against Airdrie and Stenhousemuir, we totally dominated these matches. It is just a case of picking up from the last home game and getting the three points."
The Morton performance to beat the Pars last week was described by their manager Jim Duffy as the best since he went there. JJ cited just how much the Morton players were up for the game against his team:-
"It is not as though we had a thrashing down there. It was a tight match and after we equalised our tails were up. In fact I think when they got their goal it was against the run of play. Even though we maybe didn't deserve to get it back to 1-1 there was no doubt that we looked like we were going to score.
"We had chances around about the box and should have pulled the trigger instead of trying an extra pass. They went up the park against the run of play and scored. Apart from that wee spell, over the 90 minutes they deserved to win. It is only one game, we weren't happy with it and we will see how we react on Saturday."
Very few of his team got pass marks from the Pars gaffer who felt that all over the pitch Morton made Dunfermline second best. The opposition anticipated knocked down balls faster and forced Dunfermline into too many fouls as a consequence.
"We weren't fast enough to be on the ball and when they were they made good use of it. They put themselves about. Every header they went for, they were like men possessed. We didn't have enough of that.
"They were told that after the game; what they should have been doing. It was one of those things as a manager where you think because of that, do you make all the changes? Other boys who have been out of the team have been trying to catch our eye in training.
"If I go on the basis that it is only one game, then they will be lucky to get the opportunity to show that. I think I would get a reaction because they know, another bad performance would force the manager to make changes and be fair to the other players."
The Peterhead match will be too soon to see the return of Faissal El Bakhtaoui and Ryan Wallace is still out although expected to return on Monday to be reassessed. Ryan Williamson, Andy Geggan are expected to recover from knocks but Allan Smith (above) is definitely out since he had surgery on Wednesday to remove his tonsils.
"Hopefully this is the answer to clear up his problems and not have that hanging over him. His energy levels have definitely sunk because he was just a bundle of energy getting in about people. This has been the cause of it and we have had to wait until he got his tonsils out. Rather than delay it until after December, we thought 'get it done'.
"Allan went in yesterday and it should be a ten day job. He got out of hospital today but will not be out for a while; it is going to be ten days. It is just in case he gets any infection and gets his system back to normal. We are expecting him to miss this week and we will see how he is next week. If he doesn't make Stirling, he will certainly be ready for the next game."
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