James McPake insists his side’s five-goal rout at Arbroath was Dunfermline’s best performance of the season.
Pars cruised into the last eight of the SPFL Trust Trophy with a Matthew Todd double and strikes from Kyle Benedictus, Kyle Macdonald and Craig Wighton sealing their 5-1 win.
And with Dunfermline keen to win the League One title, McPake is thrilled at how his side underlined their Championship credentials at Gayfield.
“Winning games is the be all and end all,” said McPake. “But, ultimately, performances like that can win you football matches.
“The bravery of my team was there for all to see.
“I had centre-backs willing to take risks, which I’ve asked them to do, and some of our goals were excellent.
“That was our best performance this season. There have been spells in other games where we have done well but this was excellent.
“In terms of how we moved the ball and were ruthless in our finishing that stands out.
“We were up against a very good Arbroath side but overall that was that was the best all-round performance we’ve had so far.
“But there is certainly more to come from that group.”
James McPake: I’m delighted for Matthew Todd
Meanwhile, McPake praised Todd for his double and insists the attacker needs to be more potent in front of goal.
“I’m delighted for Todd as I’ve been saying to him that he needs to add more goals to his game,” added McPake.
“He’s done that tonight with those strikes and his performance was excellent.
“We scored four very good goals. I’m not going to say five because I’m not even sure if we will give that goal to Benedictus.
“Kyle tells me it was going to Pleasureland before it ended up in the net!”
