The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Double delight as Pars scoop manager and player awards
Dunfermline: Johnston keeps eye on ball after manager of the month award
Dunfermline Athletic’s fine start to the season was rewarded yesterday when Allan Johnston was revealed as Ladbrokes Championship manager of the month for August and winger Joe Cardle picked up the players’ award.
Dunfermline celebrated a trophy double yesterday, but boss Allan Johnston insists he will not be happy until he has some real silverware in his hands at the end of the season.
Johnston was named Championship manager of the month for August and was joined by winger Joe Cardle, who lifted the player of the month award.
The Pars have kicked off the season in impressive form, winning their Betfred Cup group and surging to the top of the league with accomplished victories over Inverness Caley Thistle and Falkirk in recent weeks.
However, Johnston is fully aware it is just the start and he has called for further improvements from the Fifers, who have scored a remarkable 31 times in just 11 games so far this term.
He said: “It’s always great to get rewards, I’m not going to lie.
“But the most important thing is winning the league and getting promotion. That’s where we want to be.
“It’s been a good start to the season, but we just can’t lose our focus, we have to make sure we keep on playing with the quality and pace we’ve been playing with.
“We’ve been scoring a lot of goals and, defensively as well, we’re not losing goals, so at the moment we’re in a good place.
“As a manager, you get these awards because the team’s doing well. It’s not an individual award, like a player’s award.
“It’s about everybody pulling in the same direction: the staff, the supporters, the players – most importantly – and a lot of people behind the scenes as well.
“You’re just really accepting it on behalf of everyone else.”
Dunfermline travel to face Morton on Saturday before hosting St Mirren and Dundee United, with a trip to face Brechin City in between.
He added: “It’s an important month. We’ve got a lot of hard games, playing against the top teams, and we’ve got to raise our level again.
“But the players are capable of that. They’re playing with a lot of confidence at the moment and we’re looking forward to every game.
“We know all about Morton and they’re a hard team to beat. They’ve got a lot of pace up front and they’re a threat from set-pieces, so we’re going to have to defend well.
“But we’re going to approach the game the same as any other one, and go and try to win the game.
“It doesn’t matter whether it’s home or away, we set up to try to win, and we’ll need to play really well to do that against Morton.”
As a manager you get these awards because the team’s doing well. It’s not an individual award, like a player’s award. ALLAN JOHNSTON