Pars determined to stall Hibs’ title march

Dunfermline will do their utmost to delay Hibs’ march towards the Championship title, according to striker Michael Moffat.

Neil Lennon’s side make the short journey across the Forth hoping to extend their 10-point lead at the summit but experienced marksman Moffat insists there is no chance that Allan Johnston’s side will make life easy for the league leaders.

The Pars still have work to do themselves to confirm their place in the second tier for next season, and Moffat said: “I think they need a few more wins and that will be it over. They’ve got a nice gap at the moment.

“They will want to get it wrapped up as quickly as they can but we’ll go in with confidence that we can take something from the game.

“They’ll be playing with a lot of confidence but the game against Morton the other night might have taken a lot out of them so hopefully we can build on Saturday’s performance and go on a wee run.”

Dunfermline have not made life easy for Hibs this season, even though they are still searching for their first win over Lennon’s side.

They were aggrieved they did not come away with a victory in last month’s spirited performance at Easter Road. And Moffat reckons the East End Park outfit deserve more than what they have taken from the two defeats and one draw.

He added: “We’ve played really well in the away games against Hibs.

“In the second game of the season we got it back to 1-1 and we looked like the team that was going to win. But we made a mistake and got punished.

“They probably deserved it when they won 3-1 here but we should have won in the last game at Easter Road last month. We showed great character having been 2-0 down.”

Moffat believes the Pars produced arguably their best performance of the season last weekend when they inflicted Morton’s first home league defeat in a year.

He added: “I think the Morton win was probably the best we’ve played in a while, since the Hibs away game.

“We knew it would be tough but I think we deserved to win. We played well and it was good to get a clean sheet as well.

“If we had beaten Ayr we would have closed the gap on the teams above us but the gap is still quite big with Dundee United winning the other night.” FALKIRK v RAITH ROVERS

Raith midfielder Jordan Thompson insists the Kirkcaldy club are more than capable of replicating their last performance at Falkirk as they desperately try to move away from relegation trouble.

Rovers’ last Championship victory on the road came at the Falkirk Stadium when then manager Gary Locke masterminded a 4-2 victory in October.

Since then, the travelling supporters have not had much to shout about, with Rovers only managing three draws from nine away games.

That woeful run is part of the reason that John Hughes’ side find themselves only two points clear of Ayr United in the play-off relegation zone but on-loan Rangers midfielder Thompson is targeting another fruitful clash with the Bairns.

He said: “We won 4-2 there last time and that was probably one of our best performances of the season. Hopefully we can get a good result again.

“Every game you’re going into you need to get the right mind-set and I think we’ve done better against the bigger teams this year, the likes of Dundee United and Hibs.

“We’ve taken results against them and hopefully we can do it against Falkirk. Every result is massive for us just now.”

Thompson, meanwhile, is determined