Source: FOOTYMAD
Steep Learning Curve
Andy Dowie is confident that Dunfermline have learnt their lessons and can improve over the second half of the season Andy Dowie is finally getting used to the difference between the SPL and the First Division and is convinced Dunfermline can survive their first season back in the top flight. Dunfermline go into today's game with Celtic bottom of the table and without a home win to show for their efforts. Despite this, they have a game in hand over second bottom Hibs who only have a single point advantage. Dowie feels the Pars can be competitive in the SPL if they rid themselves of the individual errors that have littered many of their recent performances. Dowie had only 10 minutes of SPL experience as a teenager with Rangers before Dunfermline were promoted and he admits the first half of the season has been a learning curve for Jim McIntyre's side.The centre-back said: "It's a massive, massive difference. The First Division is a good league with some really good players in it but the standard of the SPL is obviously much higher. The mistakes that you would make in the First Division, you would get away with, but you don't get away with them in the SPL. Although you get slightly more time on the ball at the back to pass it, if one of those passes doesn't hit its target, you can get punished for it. It has been a learning curve for a lot of the players and the manager. But we just need to keep at it and see what happens come the end of the season."Dowie was determined to do himself justice on his return to the SPL following spells with Partick, Stranraer and Ross County, and has been one of Dunfermline's more impressive performers. He said: "You just need to try and make sure you're fitter and stronger and try and concentrate. You maybe think you are quite comfortable in a game but one second the whole game can change because the first goal is so important in matches. We saw that against St Johnstone in our last game. We were quite comfortable until they scored and then the game totally changed after that. We had a right good pre-season and fitness certainly isn't a problem, that's not the reason we're getting beat. It's the mistakes we're making. For the last few games it has been individual mistakes that have been killing us. There have been games where we've maybe not got the point or the three points that we deserved. Hopefully come the second part of the season, the games where we are on top of our opponents, we make sure we manage to hold on to three points and that will help with our survival."Dunfermline face a Celtic side that are on the back of nine successive SPL wins, including a 2-1 victory over the Pars at Parkhead. Again, individual errors saw Dunfermline concede two early goals but they were pushing for an equaliser at the end. Dowie said: "We can take confidence from that performance, we passed the ball about well. We made a couple of mistakes that Celtic took advantage of, but we certainly gave a good account of ourselves." Home Away Team P W D L F A W D L F A GD PTS 1 Celtic 21 9 1 1 24 5 7 1 2 17 10 26 50 2 Rangers 21 7 3 0 18 7 8 0 3 19 5 25 48 3 Motherwell 19 3 3 3 7 9 7 1 2 17 12 3 34 4 St Johnstone 21 4 1 6 13 15 5 4 1 13 5 6 32 5 Hearts 21 7 0 4 18 7 1 5 4 4 7 8 29 6 Dundee Utd 21 3 3 4 10 10 3 5 3 20 23 -3 26 7 St Mirren 21 4 3 4 13 12 2 5 3 9 15 -5 26 8 Kilmarnock 20 4 4 2 18 15 1 4 5 7 15 -5 23 9 Aberdeen 21 4 4 3 16 11 1 2 7 7 17 -5 21 10 Inverness CT 21 3 2 5 12 16 2 2 7 16 24 -12 19 11 Hibs 20 1 4 5 9 15 2 2 6 9 18 -15 15 12 Dunfermline 19 0 4 5 11 25 3 1 6 9 18 -23 14
