As the team skipper and a boyhood supporter of the club, Dunfermline’s season of woes has weighed heavily on Chris Hamilton.
But to get the crucial opening goal in a vital victory that continued the Pars’ recent resurgence made it an altogether more satisfying afternoon for the 22-year-old.
The win lifted the Fifers up to fifth in the Championship table and earned them an impressive haul of seven points from a possible nine in the space of just eight days.
Coupled with the preceding 1-1 draw against Arbroath, it was a fourth game without defeat for James McPake’s side.
All too often, it has been a miserable time for the East End Park men this term. And, standing in for injured club captain Kyle Benedictus, Hamilton has shouldered the burden and been the public face of that disappointment.
He is happy that, kick-started by last Friday’s triumph over Partick Thistle, there is a more positive feeling around the club as they prepare to host Airdrie on Tuesday night.
He said: “It has been tough at times, coming in to speak to press after bad results and then going home to spend the weekend.
“All the boys can feel that, in the last few weeks, when we have been struggling to get results. It was a tough time.
“But that is when we showed that we were together. Everyone rallied round, no-one threw in the towel. We stuck together, worked hard and kept the place going.
Standards
“No-one felt sorry for themselves and I think we are starting to get the rewards now.
“We knew that as soon as that win came it would relax everyone.
“These are the standards that we want to keep setting all the time. We should be winning games of football, we put that pressure on ourselves.
“As a group, we were tough on ourselves but we need to make sure that we keep doing it because we don’t want to let anything slip or get too comfortable now that we have won a few games. We need to keep going.
“Every game in this league is so hard that you can’t take your foot off the gas for a second.
“As soon as you do, somebody will be there to kick you back down. So, we need to keep going.”
Dunfermline started brightly and were determined to get their supporters onside right from kick-off.
Hamilton added: “The fans have been incredible all season, to be honest. It has been tough at times and we know that sometimes it has not been good enough.
“We have had some bad results here [at East End Park] and bad performances.
Hamilton: ‘Happy to forget’
“But, like you saw, they are happy to forget about that if you go and put a performance in, show that you are giving everything and have that wee bit of quality.
“It doesn’t take a lot for them to get behind us but we need to make sure we keep doing that.”
Without a home win in the last three months, and with some dire displays in that time, getting the first goal was crucial and Hamilton was the provider in the 41st minute.
Up for a Paul Allan corner, the centre-half rose highest to meet the delivery and head into the net from 10 yards out.
Chris Kane rammed home the advantage five minutes later in first-half stoppage time when he dispossessed a dithering Sean McGinty before coolly slotting beyond Josh Clarke for his first Dunfermline goal.
Hamilton commented: “I think it is important, especially here where we have not won in a while, that we score when we are on top.
“Kano got his at a good time as well, just before half-time. That gets him off the mark.
“The goals came at good times and I thought that we deserved them.
“It was a good day all round. Credit to the boys, I thought we were on it.”
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