James McPake knows how much Nikolay Todorov seems to like the Dunfermline versus Airdrie fixture.
And that makes him extremely wary of this weekend’s clash now the Bulgarian is in the opposition ranks.
Todorov scored 17 times in 65 appearances for Dunfermline over the course of his two years at the club.
Three of those goals came against Airdrie last season – one a dramatic late winner and another a second-half equaliser to snatch a draw.
The 27-year-old was allowed to leave East End Park in the summer as McPake sought reinforcements in other areas of his squad.
And, given his impact against Airdrie last term, there was no surprise he proved attractive to the Diamonds.
Injury has curtailed his start to life in Lanarkshire but he netted his first league goal for the club – against Raith Rovers – last month.
And McPake realises the threat the towering 6’3’’ former Hearts and Inverness Caley Thistle hitman will pose to the Pars – particularly late in the game.
He said: “Nikolay has played a fair bit recently for Airdrie. It took him a while to get in [the team], but when he got in he did well.
“He’s a great guy, he was fantastic for us and [him leaving] was just down to what we had in our squad and where we had to balance the squad.
Professional
“In terms of a person, the way he trained and the impact he had as a sub for us, although he started a lot of games for us last year, I couldn’t speak highly enough of him as a professional.
“It will be good to see him and probably the biggest compliment I could pay Nikolay is that the last time we played them I was glad that he wasn’t fit.
“We lost Rhys Breen that game – he got sent off – and when we were holding on late on, that would have been written for Toddy to come on if he was a sub.
“That was when he was really effective because he always gets chances.
“We know how deal with him but sometimes he is bigger and jumps higher than everyone else.”
McPake added: “We know him, we will speak to him, say hello to him and have a good conversation with him, but when the game kicks off he is an Airdrie player.
“We will shake hands with him at the end of the game, whether he scores against us or not.”
