James McPake didn’t want his side to have a comfortable end to the game versus Kelty Hearts.
Dunfermline came out 2-1 winners but saw Kelty Hearts strict the underside of the bar at 0-0 and miss an open goal towards the end.
It comes off the back of the Pars’ first league defeat of the season at Montrose.
Craig Wighton won the game after Nikolay Todorov opened the scoring and Kelty’s Darren Lyon equalised with a screamer.
📸 Goals from @NNTodorov and Craig Wighton gave #DAFC a 2-1 win over Kelty Hearts this afternoon🏁 pic.twitter.com/GiVKqpxNxw
— Dunfermline Athletic (@officialdafc) October 29, 2022
The Dunfermline manager said the Montrose defeat likely impacted his side going into this one.
He was also happy to see his side’s chcracter tested towards the end of the game.
Hangover
“The first 45 you could see the hangover from last week,” he said.
“We were nowhere near the standards that we ask for in the first half.
“That can be down to a number of factors – automatically you put it down to the first defeat in a while last week.”
McPake said he knew the task would be tough and managed to settle down his players at half-time.
He changed his shape, moving to a back four and watched as his side dominated the second half.
The Pars boss described Lyon’s equaliser as “a worldy” – and the goals from his own side weren’t too bad either.
They even scored a second excellent team goal to add to Wighton’s first.
‘I can’t believe I’m going to say this…’
He praised Mochrie’s “intelligence” to create the chance for Wighton’s winner and the match-winner for his overall play.
He was, though, paradoxically pleased that Wighton missed the chance later on to make the win more comfortable.
It gave him the chance to witness if his side had the resolve required.
“In a strange kind of way… I can’t believe I’m going to say this… I’m glad he didn’t score that because I wanted to see if we had the character to hang on after what happened against Peterhead and then losing out first game last week,” said McPake.
Dunfermline v Kelty Hearts verdict: Key moments and star men as Craig Wighton seals Pars win https://t.co/H78qYpYiRF pic.twitter.com/Tl3d4SCCdu
— The Courier Sport (@thecouriersport) October 29, 2022
“It took us 45 minutes to get Montrose out our system but that’s it well and truly gone.”
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