The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Pars striker Nisbet better than Shankland, says former United midfielder
Dunfermline skipper Paul Paton is convinced Kevin Nisbet is a better striker than Lawrence Shankland as the two prepare to go head to head this afternoon.
Nisbet has netted 22 times in 31 appearances for the Pars this season after finishing last term as the SPFL’s top scorer.
The 22-year-old was the subject of bigmoney bids from Hibernian and Dundee United in the January transfer window, with Rangers amongst the other clubs said to be monitoring his progress.
United see the former Raith Rovers and Partick Thistle player as a possible long-term successor to Shankland, who bagged his 29th goal of the campaign in last Friday’s victory over Inverness Caley Thistle and is now a Scotland regular.
But Paton, the former Tannadice midfielder, firmly believes Nisbet has the better all-round game to trump today’s on-form rival.
He said: “We believe our front four is as good as any front four in the division. And I mean that.
“I think Nizzy [Nisbet] is the best striker in the league.
“You’ve got to hand it to Shanks [Shankland], with his goals, but we feel that, as an all-round striker, we wouldn’t swap Nizzy for anyone.
“Don’t get me wrong, I think Shanks is great, he’s brilliant. He’s one of the best strikers in the league, along with Stephen Dobbie as well.
“It’s no disrespect to Shanks, but we just feel we’ve got the best.
“We’re just delighted to have him here and hopefully he produces this weekend.
“He shows it every game, even when he’s not scoring goals. He always looks like a threat, he always runs channels and wins headers.
“We’re delighted to have him, I can’t speak highly enough of him.
“We feel with him, Jonathan [Afolabi], Ryan Dow, Dom Thomas, Ethan Ross, whoever’s playing, that we have a really good front four.
“So, if we can get them the ball more often we always look as if we’re going to score more goals.”
Thomas, on loan from Kilmarnock, was on the scoresheet on Tuesday night but Dunfermline missed the opportunity to move into the play-off places when they crashed to a 2-1 defeat to Inverness Caley Thistle.
It means the Fifers go into this afternoon’s match back in seventh place, four points adrift of Ayr in fourth, and seeking the kind of run of results that have earned United an 18-point lead at the top of the table.
Paton added: “If we had won the other night, we were in the play-offs and only a few points behind Inverness.
“But when you lose the game you’re miles away from Inverness.
“It’s fine margins in this league, especially this season.
“There are a lot of teams quite similar in terms of standards; I don’t think there’s any outstanding teams.
“Obviously, United are the best team in the league and that’s because they’ve been so consistent; that’s what makes them the best team in the league.
“You wouldn’t necessarily look at their team and think they were miles ahead of anyone else, but their consistency levels would say that they are.”