James McPake took as a compliment FC Edinburgh’s approach to their 1-0 defeat at East End Park.
Going in as league leaders, Alan Maybury’s side ventured forward on a number of occasions in the first half.
They failed to trouble the Pars backline much and then chose to sit in for most of the second half.
The Pars looked to be heading for a frustrating result until Sam Fisher’s late cross was deflected into his own goal by Liam Fontaine.
“I know Sam, I know what he’s like,” smiled McPake.
“He’s claiming the goal and I’m happy to give him it.
“I think as a team we were excellent and thoroughly deserved to win that game.”
Huge respect
McPake watched on as his side struck the bar, had it cleared off the line – among many other chances.
The introduction of Lewis McCann and Craig Wighton in the second half added the Pars attack.
The subs came as FC Edinburgh packed two banks of four at the edge of their box, leaving two strikers up top.
“They have won four of their last five away games, they’ve scored 15 goals in those games.
“I think they’ve scored as many goals away from home as we’ve scored,” added the Pars manager.
“To come and sit in the way they did shows huge respect, I believe, to our players and our football club.
Dunfermline v FC Edinburgh verdict: Key moments, player ratings and star man as Pars go top https://t.co/mXjdqrpG50 pic.twitter.com/V649AvMMFr
— The Courier Sport (@thecouriersport) October 15, 2022
“We expect that when teams come here now – we’re working on ways to deal with it and we’ll continue to do that.
“That’s what teams are going to do, so we need to be patient, the staff – the fans are patient and they get behind us.”
McPake added that teams usually get what they deserve from games.
“If that game had finished 0-0 it would have been a travesty,” he said.
“It’s not my place to stand and decide how a team comes – I take it as a compliment to the players that they came and did that.
“But they had a chance to go five points clear at the top of the league if hat’s their aim.
“It shows what they think of our players.”
Meanwhile Nikolay Todorov is “fine” according to the Pars boss after the Bulgarian clashed heads with Edinburgh’s Lee Hamilton.
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