It was only a reserve match, but there was plenty of encouragement from Alex Jakubiak’s first outing in a Dunfermline shirt.
Against Kilmarnock’s second string, the striker showed his ability to hold up the ball and link with team-mates, as well as his pace to get in behind the defence and the odd bit of skill to beat his man.
All that was missing in his 45 minutes on the field was a goal, but he came close to that too, clipping the post after firing across the keeper.
Tuesday’s outing was the 27-year-old’s first match since he opened the scoring in a barmy Championship title decider against Queen’s Park on the final day of last season.
Now he is in line to make his Dunfermline debut against the same opponents this weekend.
‘You can see what he brings to the team’
Pars chief scout Gary Motignani, who led the reserves on Tuesday alongside Joe Chalmers, backs Jakubiak to be a success for the first team once he is fully up to speed.
“When I spoke to him when he first came in, the last time he kicked a ball was scoring against Queen’s Park, so he has got a bit of catching up to do,” said Motignani.
“Now we have got him to a point where he is playing minutes and I think you can see what he will bring to the team – not only his pace but the way he uses his body to bring others in.
Alex Jakubiak is ‘a different threat’
“He gives us a different threat. So it is fantastic to get him out and it is now just building him up to feature for the first team.
“Ideally, we wanted him there to get a goal to build his confidence but he will score goals and be a real handful against any team in the Championship so we were excited to see him.”
The most important thing in terms of Jakubiak, said Motignani, was getting him on the pitch for 45 minutes of football.
It was also a great learning experience for the likes of Taylor Sutherland, who partnered Jakubiak in attack.
Opportunities for others to learn
“You could see the quality that he has got, he caused them real problems and he is looking really sharp,” added Motignani.
“It gives the opportunity for the other ones to learn, like I said last week, the way the team wants to try and play. So we will mirror it as much as possible.
“It was great to put a young one like Taylor up next to him.
“You could see the way they worked as a real partnership, one dropping in, the other one going high and they caused Kilmarnock a lot of problems.
“He has got a bit of everything Alex and we are excited to have him. He is a great signing for us.”
