PATIENCE IS PAYING OFF FOR O’HARA

KEVIN O’Hara was the Betfred Cup fall-guy for Dunfermline but he kept them walking tall in the Championship. And the striker hopes his dramatic late winner will grant him a greater say in their quest for success. The 22-year-old was again a sub for the Pars, the sixth time in nine league outings he’s had to be content with a cameo. Yet his 91st-minute clincher, which kept the Fifers just three points adrift of Hearts, earned him his seventh goal of the campaign and joint-top spot in the club’s scoring charts. It was also a welcome Boxing Day present following the bitter disappointment of O’Hara’s missed penalty in the spot-kicks defeat to St Johnstone earlier this month. If the summer signing felt the pain of that blow, he revelled in Saturday’s goal to deny Arbroath a deserved point. ‘I was raw with missing the St Johnstone penalty,’ he said. ‘But I got up the next day, got back into training and worked hard again. ‘If I’m on the bench I have to be patient, then show the manager I can come into the team whenever he needs me and score goals. He knows my frustrations, it’s only natural.’ Meanwhile double hero Ethan Ross insists Raith Rovers fear no-one in the promotion race after their 5-2 win over a defensively ‘criminal’ Alloa, according to boss Peter Grant, bumped them up into third spot. ‘People thought we’d be towards the bottom the table,’ said the defiant onloan Aberdeen winger. Osman Sow helped keep Dundee on Raith’s tail in the play-off spots, bagging a first hat-trick on Scottish soil in a 3-1 win at Queen of the South.