Chris Kane is hopeful his maiden Dunfermline goal is the first of many for the club.
The on-loan St Johnstone striker broke his duck for the Pars in Saturday’s 2-0 victory over Ayr United.
It was just a second strike of the season for the 29-year-old, who scored his only goal in 15 appearances for Saints this term in their 1-0 win over St Mirren on December 6.
The marksman has suffered an injury-plagued spell and penned only a short-term deal at McDiarmid Park last summer. He then agreed another before pushing to go out on loan last month.
He has made an instant impact with the Pars thanks to his experience, energy in attack, selfless running and wealth of game knowhow.
But, never really known for his goals – he has 37 from almost 250 Saints outings – Kane is now determined to get himself on the scoresheet on a regular basis with the Fifers.
He said: “I’m a striker, I want to score goals. The main thing is winning games, if we won 1-0 and I never scored I would still be happy.
“But obviously I’m delighted that I got my first goal for the club.
Optimism
“They had a throw-in that went back to the centre-half and I just pressed him. That’s what I do, and noticed he took a touch. I thought ‘I can get there’ and nicked it off him.
“I was in the box one-on-one with the goalie, and sometimes those are the ones where you’ve got too much time to think about it.
“But I knew the goalie would go down and I lifted it over him. Thankfully it went into the net.
“Running through you’re thinking ‘I need to score’. Thankfully I did, and hopefully I can get more.”
Kane’s cool strike in first-half injury-time doubled Dunfermline’s advantage against Ayr following Chris Hamilton’s headed opener just five minutes earlier.
The victory stretched the Pars’ unbeaten run to four games and lifted them up to fifth in the Championship table.
There may be a temptation in some quarters to get carried away by the upturn in fortunes. And by the fact they could move to within two points of Morton in fourth with a win over Airdrie on Tuesday evening.
However, the Fifers also sit just two points above Inverness Caley Thistle in second-bottom. Having not long arrested a run of nine matches without a win, Kane insists no-one at East End Park is getting complacent.
Besides, as someone who saw Saints come a cropper away to Airdrie in the Scottish Cup in January, he is fully aware of the challenges that still lie ahead for the Pars.
Kane: ‘A really good feeling’
He said: “Saturday was a really good feeling. It’s the first win at home for a while (three months), the boys are saying.
“It’s good for the fans, they’re still coming in numbers, and it’s a massive three points.
“It pushes us up the table. Now, we need to crack on to Tuesday and hopefully get another win.
“I know Airdrie beat St Johnstone a few weeks ago and I know they’re a good side that pass the ball well. So, we’ll need to be at the top of our game to get a result.
“It’s a tight league, so no-one is going to get carried away.
“I came here when we were ninth, we’re up to fifth now. But one defeat and you can be back down there, so we need to be on it on Tuesday and hopefully not get beat.”
