Michael Tidser has urged his Dunfermline side to enjoy the taste of their Fife derby victory.
After a full-blooded clash with rivals Raith Rovers, the Pars emerged with the bragging rights thanks to a Chris Kane hat-trick.
The striker cancelled out Dylan Easton’s first-half penalty with his own spot-kick five minutes after the restart.
He then deflected in Kieran Ngwenya’s shot to give the East End Park men the lead before sealing a memorable victory with his second penalty 14 minutes from time.
Tidser hailed his players’ strength of character after coming from behind to lift themselves up into eighth in the Championship table.
But he revealed had to tell his shattered squad to relish the moment.
“I’m delighted, obviously with the result,” he said. “Performance-wise, I thought we were good.
“I was disappointed to lose the goal just before half-time.
“But I said to them at half-time that I still backed him to go and get the next goal. I thought it would flip the game and it proved to be.
Tidser: ‘I told them to smile’
“The lads showed a lot of character, a lot of resilience, and dug in when we had to.
“There’s a lot of character in there, there’s a lot of resilience. Sometimes it’s just getting it out of them.
“I told them to smile there at the end. It’s not easy to win a game of football, especially a derby.
“It’s up to me to instil that belief in them.
“There will be testing times ahead. But when you win games of football, you’ve got to try and enjoy it, because football changes quickly.”
Easton gave Raith the lead from the spot two minutes from the interval after being tripped by Tommy Fogarty in the box.
It was a stodgy game on a gluepot pitch and it was a day for effort and attitude, which both teams had in spades.
But it was the Pars who got the rewards when Chris Hamilton’s shot struck Paul Hanlon’s arm to give Kane the chance to stick away the equaliser.
The former St Johnstone man’s second was fortuitous as he got in the way of Ngwenya’s drive, and he drilled the third down the middle from the spot after Kevin Dabrowski had taken him down in the area.
Tidser, who gave debuts to new signings Archie Stevens and Ephraim Yeboah, was full of praise for the striker.
‘Finishing touch’
“You’ve seen today with his work-rate,” added the Pars head coach on Kane. “You’ve all seen Chris Kane since he was a kid. He’s always worked.
“It’s just trying to have that finishing touch in terms of the goals.
“Obviously two were penalties, but you know you need to have balls to take them in a derby and he certainly stood up to that.
“The other goal was probably more a deflection.
“But I always feel you reap what you sow in football. And Chris Kane deserves that because of his attitude and his willingness and his desire, using his body, using his experience.
“So I’m really pleased for him.”
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