Once again this season we find ourselves facing a game after a postponement the week before, we sat down with manager Phil McGuire to find out how the stop start nature affected things and looked forward to this weekends clash with Downfield
How are things looking for this weekends game against Downfield ?
We have trained well over the last couple of weeks without a game, frustrating as it is we cannot control the weather. Having said that we go into the game probably with our worst injury list of the season with defensive options being very restricted in our back four. This is frustrating but it’s what we have to deal with and it is likely we will be without 3 or 4 this weekend with 1 or 2 only fit enough to make up numbers. We will assess tonight and in to Saturday and make that call on those players who are fit and who isn’t.
Our first game at Laing Park of the year, it’s good to be at home?
It does seem a wee while but in that time we have played several away games along with postponed fixtures and that has been frustrating. It is always nice to play at home though and we are looking forward to tomorrows game. We know it will be a very difficult match as always and we will need to perform to a high level and take our chances while being resolute defensively. Downfield have a good squad and have brought in some very good players, we know that Paul will have them well coached, organised and disciplined in how they setup and on their day they are more than capable of beating anybody as they have done this season.
How difficult has it been with games being off creating a stop start scenario?
It is hugely frustrating to be honest especially when boys want to play and over the Xmas period we had games off, ironically the reverse fixture to Downfield was postponed on the day and in a way probably suited us as we would have been without five players with injuries so that did help us nurse a few back over that period. That being said it has been a bit stop start over the last 6-7 weeks and as much as training is good and competitive its only the way we work towards the match day game. It is the same for the other teams also and everyone is in a similar position.
This weekend gives both ourselves and Lochee United a chance to steal a march on Broughty with them in Scottish Cup action?
Broughty play their Scottish Cup game and I wish them all the best as it is good for the region just like Lochee have shown in recent seasons. This season we have benefited at times being out the cup and it has allowed us to play league games and get points on the table. I don’t look at this weekend as a chance to move further clear of Broughty or Lochee for that matter, I just see it as a chance to continue to progress and compete in a difficult league. We are in a good position but we won’t be taking anything for granted, our ambitions at the start of the season were simply to compete and work towards consistency which hasn’t been there for a number of seasons. Too often in the past the club has had rollercoaster seasons, winning a few and losing a few and the challenge was to look towards finishing in the top half of the table and building on that each year. There are lots of games to go and I am sure plenty of twists and turns during the next 3 months or so, for us we will always focus on the next game and how we can improve and how we can challenge ourselves to compete and win football games consistently. That is solely down to the squad who have shown resilience, work-rate and dedication to challenge themselves as a team and strive to progress week in week out.
