James McPake is confident Dunfermline Athletic’s youngsters have ‘banished’ the memories of relegation, despite a rollercoaster return to the Championship.
The Pars boss has confessed he was concerned about the way his squad would handle being back in the second-tier following their disastrous demotion two seasons ago.
But, with the likes of Lewis McCann, Paul Allan and Matty Todd all now regular first-choice picks, McPake has been content with the campaign so far.
He was clearly disappointed with Saturday’s 2-1 home defeat to Partick Thistle.
But, with his team sitting in fourth in the table approaching the midway point in the fixture list, he believes there has been progress – and is convinced there is plenty still to come.
He said: “What I think this young squad has shown, through injuries, through a change of personnel at times and players playing in different positions, is a real maturity and understanding of what we’re trying to do.
“We’ve miles to grow – I said grow, and I mean that, as a group. That’s myself, Dave and the rest of the staff included.
“But credit to that young squad. It’s Ewan Otoo’s first real season at this level, the same with Kane Ritchie-Hosler, and it’s arguably Lewis McCann’s first season at this level as a first-team player.
“The same with Matty Todd and Paul Allan, because they were in and out the last time in the Championship.
McPake: ‘That was the wee worry’
“We have experience with Joe Chalmers, Kyle Benedictus, Deniz Mehmet, Michael O’Halloran, Craig Wighton and Aaron Comrie.
“But, apart from that, with the rest of them this is all new to them.
“That was the wee worry coming up, that some of them that were here the last time in this league and had 10 points after 14 games.
“But they’ve banished that. This season we had 21 points at the same point.
“We still need to get to a certain points total to be clear of relegation. That’s the aim, to stay in this league.
“And also to progress that young group. I think we’ve started that process and it’s going along okay.”
‘Top-drawer performance from a young kid’
Meanwhile, McPake has showered praise on Otoo following his man-of-the-match performance against Partick at the weekend.
The former Celtic youngster again filled in at left centre-half but, as well as being sound defensively, was also a threat in attack as he stepped forward to positive effect.
It was a 15th consecutive 90 minutes for the 21-year-old in the league and McPake has hailed a complete display.
He added: “I thought Ewan Otoo’s performance was a top top-drawer performance from a young kid.
“He’s learning the game and and he’s maturing every day in training, and he is maturing every week in games, and he put that together against Partick.”
