Ladbrokes Championship round-up
NICKY CLARK has been at Dunfermline less than a month but he must already sense it is going to be an eventful season for the club.
He failed to get on the scoresheet on his debut – a 5-1 Irn-Bru Cup win at Brechin – missed a penalty in a home loss to Dundee United, netted his first goal in a defeat at Morton and, in the final game of September, scored twice in a breathless 4-3 win over St Mirren.
Having signed a two-year contract suggests Allan Johnston, his former manager at Queen of the South, knows he will bring goals to a club which has struggled in the Championship.
Short-term signing Farid El Alagui ultimately settled Saturday evening’s encounter but Clark looked dangerous throughout.
“It was an eventful game, maybe too eventful for some people!” Clark admitted, aware his manager was upset at more “cheap goals” conceded. “We needed the three points pretty badly after losing our last five games, and we’re delighted that we got them.
“We shot ourselves in the foot several times and kept making things more difficult for ourselves, but we also showed a lot of character to get the result in the end.
“All strikers love to score goals and I’m no different, but the most important thing was to get all three points for the team. I’ve settled in fairly quickly and I feel really comfortable here.
“I also know the Championship very well after scoring 42 goals for Queen of the South a couple of years ago. If I can get anywhere near that, then it’ll be a successful season.
“I’ve come back from down south and I’m just concentrating on trying to score as many goals as possible and trying to push Dunfermline up the league table.”
Dunfermline now possess plenty of goal threat but their concerns are at the back, no fewer than 16 goals conceded in seven league games which is the worst in the division.
Falkirk moved up to third but left it late to see off Ayr United 2-0, an own goal from Darryl Meggat and a strike from Lee Miller securing the points.
Manager Peter Houston was unimpressed with his team in the first half, referring to them as “pedantic, slow and pedestrian”.
Raith Rovers hit back after three defeats to beat Dumbarton 3-2 but they let their opponents back into it after holding what looked an unassailable three-goal half-time lead.
However, manager Gary Locke preferred to concentrate on the first three-quarters of the match, which his team dominated: “We’ve stopped the rot and we’re back on track.”
Dundee United look to have found their feet after a double from French midfield player Tony Andreu proved enough to see off Morton 2-1 at Tannadice and exact some revenge for their Betfred Cup defeat at Cappielow last week.