Pars must strike balance after Dens goal-fest

STEVIE Crawford insists he would r at h e r D u n fe r m l i n e c h a s e d success with an attacking gamepla n t ha n t r y to “g r i nd out ” victories.

The Pars manager admits his side were too expansive in last weekend’s 4-3 defeat to Dundee.

The loss brought to an end an impressive run of three straight victories and tempered the Fifers’ ambitions of overhauling Inverness Caley Thistle in second spot.

But they face the Highlanders away from home tomorrow with just a four-point gap between the teams and Crawford is keen to see his players match their desire to score goals with a determination to keep them out.

He said: “It’s about getting the balance right of being an attacking threat which means people will want to come and watch you.

“Last weekend it could have been about 5-4 at half-time.

“I would much rather that we compete in the league with performances like that than try to grind out 1-0s. But there is also a time and a place to grind out 1-0s.

“We went down to Ayr United (a 1-0 victory) and on the night, through being disciplined, we created double figures in terms of scoring chances in the game.

“It’s about getting the balance right and does experience bring that?

“The players, on the back of three wins, have gone up to Dens Park thinking ‘we’ve got goals in us’ – and then we’ve over-exposed ourselves.”

Meanwhile, Crawford is hopeful his squad can withstand a bug that has affected some players this week.

He added: “I’m not going to name any individuals but there’s couple of boys who have been affected.”

Dundee boss James McPake has injury worries for tomorrow at Partick.