Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Johnstone keeping feet on ground as Pars go top
ALLAN Johnstone played down the significance of his side’s comprehensive win over Dumbarton that saw them go top of the Ladbrokes Championship.
Dunfermline produced a dominant display away from home to see off the strugglers 4-0 and move above Dundee United.
Joe Cardle and Kallum Higginbotham scored early on, before Nicky Clark and Andy Ryan added late on following a red card to Andy Dowie.
It sees Johnstone’s side go top after four games and remain unbeaten — but he was not getting carried away.
He said: “We never started well enough, I think we have improved since last year. There is still a long way to go and we have to work even harder if we want to stay up the top of the league.
“We know that it is going to be a really competitive league. Look at the results, there are no easy games in this league but I think we have players who can score goals. It was great to have a clean sheet as well.”
Stephen Dobbie scored a hat-trick for Queen of the South as they moved up to second with a 4-1 win over Falkirk, for whom Lucas Gasparotto scored after Jason Kerr’s opener.
Danny Mullen scored the only goal in a 1-0 win for Livingston over Morton, while Iain Vigurs notched twice, and Brad McKay and Alex Cooper also netted for Inverness, who beat Brechin 4-0.
Brechin gaffer Darren Dods remained upbeat, saying: “I can’t fault the effort of my players. They kept fighting, even when they went four down.”