Duffy’s admiration for squad after Falkirk success
Jim Duffy expressed admiration for his team after Saturday’s William Hill Scottish Cup fourth round victory over fellow Championship club Falkirk.
Goals from Jamie Lindsay and Ross Forbes were enough to secure safe passage to the final 16 at the expense of Peter Houston’s Bairns.
The win saw the Sinclair Street side stretch their unbeaten run to 17 home matches, and Ton boss Duffy hailed his players for their consistency and another impressive home display.
Speaking exclusively to gmfc.net, he said: “I think it was another fantastic result but also thought it was an outstanding performance, particularly in the second half.
“The first 20 minutes were a bit … bitty. You get that, of course you do, when it’s a cup tie against one of our main rivals in this division.
“Gats [Derek Gaston] had a fantastic save at 0-0 and that gave us a real lift. After that we settled down actually, although we could have scored early when Mark Russell had a fantastic chance.
“The goal just before half-time settled everybody down and then we managed to relax and then scored again quite early in the second half.
“After that Falkirk got three and four players up the pitch, but we used the ball very well in the middle of the pitch. We sometimes haven’t done that when teams have pushed extra players up. But we’re learning all the time and that showed.
“Our desire and work ethic is pivotal to any success. In terms of commitment, the players know that if they put in that type of shift then the opposition will always find it difficult against us.
“If you’re the manager and you see that effort, that endeavour and desire to chase lost causes, to put pressure on the opposition, it gives you a degree of satisfaction.
“There is an admiration there for what they’re putting in. As a manager when I reflect immediately after this game, the key word I would use is admiration.”
The Cappielow gaffer was particularly pleased with the quality of the goals his side scored as well as their second successive shutout.
He added: “I thought the first goal was an outstanding goal. I mean, the awareness and quality of the ball from Gary [Oliver], the run from Ross …
“There was also the intelligence that he couldn’t score from that angle, so he headed it backs across the six-yard line for Jamie [Lindsay] gambling to come in and get on the end of it. It was a terrific goal at any level.
“Ross has been fantastic, absolutely outstanding. His delivery at set-pieces today again was unbelievable – he put in some fantastic balls and we could have scored a goal; it was only really good defending that stopped us.
“And he is also prepared to get himself into the box, into those threatening areas. Alright, it was a bit fortuitous with the way the goal came about, but nevertheless if you don’t gamble to get in there, you don’t score goals.
“Again it was really good build-up play: I think Mark Russell nutmegged the boy and Gary smashed across the goal, then Ross gets on the end of it.
“So there were a lot of good things today including another clean sheet. A lot of people spoke when Gavin Gunning left, [saying]: ‘We need to get other players in.’
“But I always felt as if we had good players here and I think Ricki [Lamie] came in today at left-back and was terrific, the two centre-backs made one mistake but other than that they put in a top-class defensive performance.”
Image (main): Gary Bradley
Image (inset): David Bell
