Perfect Pars continue fine cup form in league opener
Dunfermline’s promising Betfred Cup form was rubber stamped with victory over Inverness at an eerily empty East End Park.
The Pars signalled their promotion ambitions by displaying great character in recovering from the loss of an early goal against the Highland men who started brightly.
Pars manager Stevie Crawford was full of praise for the attitude shown by his players as they regrouped in the wake of Nikolay Todorov’s stunning second minute strike.
“We fell behind to a very good goal early on“said delighted gaffer Crawford.
“But the players showed great resilience and I was very pleased with their reaction.
“We equalised quickly and as the game went on I always felt we had more goals in us.
“On the whole we deserved to win. In my time here we’ve always struggled to get a result against them but this is without doubt the strongest squad of players I’ve had since I took over as manager.”
Having won all three of their Betfred Cup ties, Dunfermline would have been expected to fly out of the traps when referee Willie Collum blew his whistle to signal the start of their league campaign.
But it was the visitors who racked up an early advantage, Daniel Mackay catching the home defence cold after just 90 seconds with a probing low cross from the right which was driven high into the net by Todorov.
Clearly stunned by this early setback, Dunfermline responded positively with Paul Watson and Ryan Dow coming close to equalising during an eventful and entertaining opening period.
And although the Highlanders withstood the Pars’ onslaught, they were dealt a major blow in the 20th minute when Todorov’s participation came to a premature end through injury.
With the Bulgarian striker having operated alone up front, a tactical reshuffle was required and Dunfermline took full advantage, levelling just three minutes after Todorov’s withdrawal through Euan Murray.
The club captain notched his fourth goal of the season when he rose above the Caley defence to head past Mark Ridgers from a Dominic Thomas cross.
Inverness appeared rattled at this stage and were fortunate to reach the interval on level terms, with Kevin O’hara and Iain Wilson both squandering chances to put the Fifers ahead.
A rather pedestrian second half looked to be heading towards stalemate until Dunfermline exploded into life late on.
Dow gave the Pars the lead with a close-range effort before strike partner Declan Mcmanus sent a 20-yard shot beyond Ridgers to secure the three points.
Although clearly disappointed with the outcome, Caley boss John Robertson remained upbeat in the aftermath.
“There were a lot of positives to be taken from today’s performance” reflected Robbo. “We matched a very good Dunfermline side for 75 minutes.”