James McPake reveals difference in second half which saw Dunfermline overcome East Fife

By Craig Cairns

July 9 2022, 7:00pm

James McPake last week added two loanees to his squad. Photograph: Craig Brown.

Dunfermline manager James McPake said his side were “too comfortable” in the first half in their victory over East Fife in the Premier Sports Cup.

The Pars emerged from the second half at Bayview Stadium on the front foot and barely relented for the remainder of the game.

The first half wasn’t without its chances for the away side, but not enough of them were clear-cut.

A double from Lewis McCann in the second half ensured the victory – which pleased the Pars boss.

“I said on the very first day I got the job that we’d be working towards and aiming for July 9,” said McPake.

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— Dunfermline Athletic (@officialdafc) July 9, 2022

“It’s here and it’s a good start. If someone had offered it, I would have taken it.”

McCann unlucky not to get a hattrick

On the first-half performance, McPake added: “We were too comfortable and too happy just keeping the ball, which isn’t what we want to do.

“The second half you see the difference when you play with that bravery, wanting to play forward.

“The chances we created, be it crosses into the box from Josh Edwards, Aaron Comrie getting high – and with that front three you’re always going to get goals.

📸 It was a @lewismccann27 double that gave #DAFC a 2-0 win over East Fife this afternoon. pic.twitter.com/cfw0nGun0R

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McPake was particularly impressed by the performance of McCann, who was denied a third goal by an excellent stop from Allan Fleming in the East Fife goal.

The 21-year-old got his season off to the perfect start, though he was made to wait for it – frustratingly missing a number of chances before winning the match.

“He was excellent on the day, he’ll be disappointed not to get his hattrick,” said McPake. “He was worthy of those two goals.

“The difference in the game in the second half was that we played with a tempo and a bravery to get the ball forward.”

Solid backline

Earlier in the week Pars defender Kyle Benedictus spoke about the solid foundation he and Breen had given the side in preseason and that continued into this match.

The frustrating spell in front of goal never became too much of an issue.

This was due to the defending of Benedictus, Rhys Breen and their full-backs – not to mention Chris Hamilton breaking up play at the base of midfield.

“There’ll be games like that where you get frustrated at the top end of the pitch for whatever reasons – if you’re missing your chances or you just can’t break a team down, continued McPake.

“So you have to be solid at the other end of the pitch, which we were and we’re delighted about.

“Deniz [Mehmet] had one save and we had the ball across the goal from a first-half
set-play which wasn’t great for us. We should be making contact with that.

“But other than that I think we were comfortable in what we had to do defensively.

“Those energy levels and the tempo we’ve played at, we need to carry that on to Tuesday night [versus Buckie Thistle].”