Dunfermline Athletic have made recent contact with all the parent clubs of their loan players about keeping them beyond January.
Manager James McPake said the club have a good relationship with all four clubs, with Rangers loan manager Billy Kirkwood last week attending Pars’ training.
He has been keeping a close eye on the progress of Kane Ritchie-Hosler who signed on loan initially until next month, but it is hoped he will stay until the end of the season.
Chris Mochrie signed from Dundee United, Sam Fisher from Dundee and Robbie Mahon from Motherwell – all until the end of the campaign.
Break clauses
However, season-long loans tend to contain a break clause allowing any of the parties involved to cancel the arrangement during a set period, usually in January.
Courier Sport understands that Dundee are pleased with the progress of Fisher and the centre-back recently spoke about how much he was enjoying being at East End Park.
Fisher knows McPake, his assistant Dave Mackay, first-team coach Martin Harty and chief scout Gary Montignani from their time at Dens Park.
“We’ve spoken to all the clubs,” said McPake.
“To be fair, we have a really good relationship with Rangers – Billy Kirkwood was in at training the other day watching Kane.
“We played Dundee United in a bounce game, so we spoke to them [about Mochrie].
“We send the games and the stats to the clubs. So we have a really good relationship with them all.”
Waiting game
Mochrie has been the standout of the loan signings so far.
He initially had to bide his time with appearances from the bench before he was given a run in the side – he has since started every match he has been available for.
He has two goals but his overall play has been a class above at times – even in the Pars’ only league defeat of the season so far.
Mochrie’s goal v Peterhead:
He is closely followed by Fisher who also had to be patient at first.
One of the reasons he had to wait for his opportunity was due to the already solid defensive performances.
The defence has been just as good – if not improved – since he became a regular and he has started every match since his first versus Alloa in October.
Late additions
Ritchie-Hosler and Mahon were added later and it is only recently that the former has been given a run of matches.
An impressive performance against Hibernian Reserves led to a first start the following weekend versus Forfar in the Scottish Cup.
He was genuinely “buzzing” after scoring his first goal for the Pars in that game and is enjoying the challenge he is getting from battling it out at the top of League One.
Mahon has had the least amount of game time – 78 minutes over four appearances – of the four but it is understood McPake still wants to keep the Motherwell winger until the end of the campaign.
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