Pars man raring to go for derby day

MCCABE HAS seen his fair share of derby games over the years and can’t wait to sample some more of that kind of atmosphere at East End Park.

“We know how big a game it is — they are all big, but we know how much it means to the fans and hopefully the boys will get a result,” McCabe told Courier Sport.

“I didn’t realise how big this game was until I came here, this and the Falkirk game, and we’ve had some right ding-dong games with them over the years.

“It’s great when you win, terrible when you lose, and we feel the same as the fans so hopefully we won’t be feeling terrible on Saturday.

“We’ve had a decent start to the season, we had a good result last week and a good result during the week, so hopefully we can carry that on into the next game.

“Raith have had a good start to the season and they have a few former Dunfermline players in their team, so we’ll certainly not be underestimating them.

“But I think we should have enough players and enough about us to get a result.”

Following a 1-0 home defeat to Partick Thistle a fortnight ago, the Pars’ outlook is a lot brighter after coming from behind to beat Airdrie United 2-1 last Saturday and brushing aside Montrose in the League Cup on Tuesday.

McCabe noted: “To do well you’ve got to be consistent and I think we were unlucky against Partick.

“They are the best team I’ve seen so far, they’ve got a good squad of players, but we’ve had two good results in a row and you’d rather be going into games like this weekend’s against Raith Rovers winning your last two than going in with two defeats or two draws.”

Pars boss Jim Jefferies is still mulling over whether or not to bring a few more players in before today’s transfer deadline, but McCabe believes the manager will be content whatever happens.

“Obviously we would like another couple of faces in to keep things fresh, keep things ticking over and have more competition for places but if it doesn’t happen I don’t think we’d be too disappointed,” he concluded.

Alex Whittle appears to be the only doubt for tomorrow’s game after twisting his ankle in midweek.