Dunfermline - After Match Reaction
Saturday 23rd January 2010
Defeat is something that is never easy to accept. When you lose 4-1 thanks in no small measure to a second half capitulation there is absolutely no hiding place with the team's inadequacies, on the day at least, exposed for all to see.
www.ptfc.co.uk speaks with manager Ian McCall after each and every game and while there was the temptation to skulk away home after today's result today was no exception.
In truth the manager's opening remarks summed up the afternoon pretty well.
"That was the worst performance and worst result we have produced since I became manager here."
"I think it is important to stress that we can't begrudge Dunfermline their victory, it was thoroughly merited, as it was their winning margin. It doesn't lessen the pain any, and it is very painful right now, but Cardle's hat-trick was as a good a hat-trick as you are likely to see. Some of the goals were outstanding."
"One of the annoying things for me is that at 1-0 down we had a couple of great chances to get right back in the game. These weren't half chances either but the type of chance that you really expect your strikers to be taking when they get the chance. If we take one of those chances then the complexion of the game changes completely. Far too often in pivotal moments in games we have failed to take chances and that is killing us. If there was even a hint of a bright side to the afternoon it was the fact that Liam Buchanan got a goal before the end of the match. Hopefully there will be a few more to follow from Liam in the next few weeks."
"I didn't think that I had a single player that played well today. We've made big strides here over the last two and half years but results like today's really do set you back. In saying that I don't want to single out the players for criticism. Everyone was responsible for today's performance including myself and the staff."
"we were coming into today's game on the back of a bad result against Raith Rovers but in general this season we have always had a good response to a bad result and I expected the same today. We had the players in early this morning and we spent some time working on a few things but it turned out to be a really bad day for us."
