By Aileen Robertson

DUNFERMLINE GOAL hero Tam McManus looks set to make his stay in Fife more permanent, if the Pars avoid relegation.

The striker, who scored what could turn out to be the most important goal of Dunfermline’s season against St Mirren on Monday, sees his contract expire in a few weeks, but manager Stephen Kenny wants to keep him on at the club.

The Pars boss told Courier Sport, “I think we’d be keen to keep Tam now. He’s done well. Hopefully we can stay up now and he can be an important part of our future.”

McManus found out yesterday that he and Stephen Glass will definitely miss the Scottish Cup final because they were on the bench for their previous clubs earlier in the competition.

McManus’s agent Charles Duddy tried to get the SFA to reconsider the rule after Kilmarnock’s Jamie Adams played for Queen of the South in the cup after being an unused sub in the Rugby Park side’s 3-1 defeat to Morton.

An SFA spokesman said the matter was under investigation but did not change the fact that McManus and Glass would have to adhere to the rules.

He said, “The rules can be changed at our agm, which we hold each summer, but cannot be changed midway through a cup to suit one player.

“Any of our member clubs can put forward a proposal to change the cup rules. However, Dunfermline has not asked for any dispensation.”

At Pitreavie training ground yesterday, McManus said, “The boys have done well to get us there so they deserve a chance to play in the final.

“I was on the bench for Falkirk and I never got on so I think it’s a bad rule. As I said, this isn’t about me trying to play in the final, it’s about trying to get this rule stopped so it doesn’t cause other players to miss games as well.”

Despite providing the winning goals against Dundee United and St Mirren, McManus praised his team-mates for the recent run of results.

He said, “It’s not just a one-man team. Luckily for me I’ve been getting the goals, and goal scorers always get the headlines.

“But it’s the whole team that has been outstanding. There have been five clean sheets in a row and the goalkeeper’s been superb as well.

“It’s been unbelievable. Just after I came in we’ve only lost one game against Motherwell and in the rest of the games we’ve been really good at the back and looking dangerous and starting to score a few more goals.

“I’m happy here and my contract’s up so we’ll wait and see what happens next season if the club’s still in the SPL.

“Obviously if it came down to that I would be keen to speak to them. First things first is to try and make sure we’re safe and then we can talk about other things later.”