James McPake backs Max Anderson to do well during his loan move to Inverness.
Anderson, who established himself as a first-team regular at Dundee under McPake, completed his move to the Highlands club earlier this week.
The 22-year-old midfielder is now five games shy of a century of senior appearances and looks certain to reach that milestone at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium.
He could make his debut in Inverness against his former boss as Dunfermline look to bounce back from last week’s derby defeat.
McPake is familiar with the threat Anderson poses and joked that he hoped he does well, but only after this weekend’s meeting between the sides.
James McPake: ‘He’s a great lad’
“He’s a great lad,” said McPake. “Out of the younger ones, he played the most for me and [assistant manager] Dave [Mackay] at Dundee.
“A good player and he’ll add to any team in this division. In my opinion, he can add to the Premiership – we played him a lot in the Premiership as well.
“He just needs to get out and play football. Good luck to him, after Saturday!
“He’s got some strengths that are that good, they are sometimes hard to deal with,” added the Pars boss.
“As we saw at Dundee, even though we were playing good sides, he can handle the ball, he’s a goal threat. Technically he’s excellent.”
McPake working on new signings – but no outgoing expected
There are no new signings in at Dunfermline this week but work is continuing to strengthen the attack.
Alex Jakubiak has been training with the club, another player familiar to McPake.
The Pars did receive a timely boost, with Kane Ritchie-Hosler likely to be in the squad after training well following Tuesday’s comeback for Dunfermline Reserves.
McPake is also confident no players will be leaving the club ahead of Friday’s transfer deadline, despite a couple of enquiries.
Building a squad
“We are trying to build a squad without making too much change but we do know that we need to add to it,” said McPake.
“You can see with the younger ones like Kane coming in, as much as he is a player for the present, he is also an asset for the future of this club.
“Ewan Otoo, Sam Fisher – players like that hence the fact that there were three-year deals for them and there’s not many clubs doing that, certainly not at our level.
“That has shown a commitment to what we are trying to do.”
