Football's Ups and Downs

[GG Riva]

Like almost every other Pars fans, I left EEP frustrated and disappointed by the team`s disjointed performance yesterday. A good number of fans were visibly quite angry, too. That's their right, but it`s misplaced in my humble one. It`s not as if the players weren't trying or McPake set them up to deliberately lose the game. The manager gave a very honest post-match assessment, and he`s not hiding from his part in it. 

It's hard to believe that this was almost the same team that demolished Morton, even allowing for the fact that Ayr is probably a better team. Sometimes we forget that the players are not robots or machines, and their performances will vary from week to week, especially among the younger ones with little experience at this level. Confidence is hugely important. It would have been high after the Morton game, but would have been significantly dented at Firhill. Yesterday, we should have been in front before Ayr scored. Might have made it a completely different game - we`ll never know.

The danger now is that we have a difficult run of games coming up, Raith and Morton away, followed by Dundee United at home. We don't want the players going into these games thinking they could lose them. This is where McPake and Mackay must earn their corn and prepare the team so that the players not only believe they can win these games, but they are set up in a way that gives them a good chance of doing so.

We have a very astute management team. I believe they can turn our fortunes around starting next week.