Second quarter above Par, reckons Crawford

DUNFERMLINE: Caley Jags condemn side to second loss in a row but gaffer looks to positives

Stevie Crawford insists there is much to be encouraged by at the end of the second quarter of league matches with Dunfermline on the up.

Goals from Shaun Rooney and Jamie McCart condemned the Pars to a 2-0 defeat to Inverness on Saturday – the Fife side’s second defeat in a row after the loss to Dundee at Dens Park.

Crawford didn’t attempt to gloss over those back-to-back disappointments but felt the broader picture was heartening.

Dunfermline had won three games before that defeat in Dundee as their home form drastically improved in the second quarter of the campaign.

Crawford saw his team create two good chances against Inverness, both from interplay between Ryan McCann and top scorer Kevin Nisbet.

Nisbet uncharacteristically failed to tuck away either opportunity on a day when the hosts were mostly in control.

Crawford said: “On the back of losing four goals last week, we’d worked on trying to have our back and midfield lines more structured.

“I felt we did – we hit them on the counter-attack and created a couple of opportunities which, on another day, possibly would have gone in.

“In the main, as much as our lines were decent, we ended up sitting too deep and Inverness got in too many crosses.

“I’m not too despondent. We won three games on the bounce within the space of a week.

“We’ve come to two difficult places, Dens Park and Inverness.

“We’ve improved in the second quarter from what we did in the first – and that’s what we have to look at going into the remaining games.

“There’s a big change in personnel and it wasn’t going to happen from day one.”

Victory kept up Caley Thistle’s challenge for second place, with Rooney suggesting there is now no point in even considering a tilt at the title with Dundee United 13 points ahead.

It was also a fifth clean sheet from six games for the hosts.

Mostly, though, the flow of play was in the Pars’ faces with the breakthrough materialising after 34 minutes.

A corner on the right was played back to James Keatings who curled in a fine cross.

Rooney, showing the deft touch of a striker, lifted his right foot high to guide an angled volley into the corner of the net from 10 yards.

Before the break, another creative flourish from Dunfermline’s Ryan McCann split the home defence, but Mark Ridgers saved superbly at Nisbet’s feet.

Just before the hour mark Lee Ashcroft made a terrific saving tackle after Miles Storey got in behind the Dunfermline defence.

The killer second came 10 minutes from time. Aaron Doran’s corner from the left was fired high to the back of the penalty box where McCart made a towering leap to direct a header into the far corner of the net.

We’ve improved in the second quarter from what we did in the first. STEVIE CRAWFORD

Picture: SNS. Lee Ashcroft robs Miles Storey of the ball during Caley Thistle’s 2-0 win.