Muzza on the way to being a new Nizzy
Ryan raving over star impact of Pars pal Euan at both ends of the pitch
RYAN DOW reckons Euan Murray can match Kevin Nisbet’s goal return from last season for Pars.
The Dunfermline skipper continued his stunning start to the season against Inverness, rising to head home his fourth goal of the campaign.
Murray’s goal, again from a Dom Thomas set-piece, cancelled out Nikolay Todorov’s early opener as the Fifers hit back to grab an opening-day win.
The 26-year-old centre-half may seem like an unlikely candidate to replace 23-goal marksman Nisbet following his summer switch to Hibs but team-mate Dow couldn’t care less who gets their name on the scoresheet.
Dow said: “Muzza is absolutely flying. He’s scored four already so we need to try and catch him.
“He’ ll maybe be trying to catch Nizzy’s tally from last year at this rate!
“It’ll be good if he can keep it going. Last year he had a freak injury and was out for long spells but when he came back he scored at Partick Thistle. “He’s brilliant in the air and, as an attacking threat, it’s massive if defenders can chip in. But as long as we’re winning games I don’t care who scores.” The Pa r s completed the turnaround deep into the second half. Pau l Wa t s o n met a whipped Josh Edwards del ivery and, although Mark Ridgers blocked the initial header Dow reacted quickest to sweep home the rebound.
With the Highlanders throwing bodies forward Declan McManus pounced on the counter-attack, shrugging off Brad McKay and unleashing a powerful drive from distance which deflected off Robbie Deas and nestled in the net for 3-1.
Dunfermline have now scored nine goals in their opening four victories in all competitions with five different scorers.
And Dow is adamant something special is brewing at East End Park after claiming the Pars are now a more potent attacking threat despite losing their talisman from last term.
He added: “We’ve lost a few players, with the main one being Nizzy, but we’ve brought a lot of good ones in and have a lot of different options which we didn’t have last year.
“After losing Nizzy, who was our main goal threat last year, it’s good if we all chip in. I got off and running on Saturday, the same with Declan McManus.
“Muzza’s flying, Fraser Murray chipped in with two against Kilmarnock and Kevin O’Hara is off the mark too. We’re more of a threat from set-pieces too.”
Caley’s Daniel McKay was left cursing their inability to defend set-plays.
He said: “The disappointing thing for us was conceding from set-pieces. It’s a definite strength of Dunfermline. We knew about it and we should have done better.”