James McPake hailed Dunfermline’s character and resilience as they refused to be ‘bullied’ in a hard-fought victory over Morton.
Just seven weeks on from the low of a 5-0 hammering from the Greenock side at East End Park, the Pars jumped over the hosts into fifth in the Championship thanks to Miles Welch-Hayes’ first goal for the club.
The second-half header was enough to separate the sides at full-time, but only thanks to a magnificent late penalty save from Deniz Mehmet – the keeper’s third in a row.
And, despite dismissing any suggestions of revenge for that February drubbing from ‘Ton, McPake was thrilled with the style of his side’s win.
“It was a really important three points for us. And the manner in which we got them as well,” said McPake, who complained his side had been swept aside too easily in the teams’ last meeting.
“At no point were we bullied or did we get caught up in the other side of the game.
“We stuck to the plan and we played some decent enough stuff when we could.
“There are loads of different things you need to get right on the day and today I thought we deserved the victory.
Defended properly
“I thought as a team we defended really well.
“Credit to them, they make you defend. They’re very direct, they put loads of balls in your box.
“And you’ve got to be right on it and defend properly.
“With Bene [Kyle Benedictus] back in, since he’s come back, we’ve been doing that.”
Mehmet looked to have been fouled in the build-up to Morton’s penalty, awarded for a trip on Jai Quitongo by Ewan Otoo.
“It was a big save from Den, obviously, from the penalty,” said McPake. “But I thought we should have been out of sight by then.
“But we showed great character.
“I think it should have been a free-kick on Den, it certainly looked like that from where I was standing.
“It was a big save. When there’s a penalty against us and we’ve got big Den in goals you always feel like he’s got that big save in him.
“Today it proved vital.”
Not about revenge
He added: “We should have been more comfortable in the game but it’s great to come down here and win 1-0.
“That’s now nine points out of 12 against them.
“I was a wee bit fed up of getting asked everything about 5-0 and going down and getting revenge.
“We had an off-day that day, we were really poor and it’s not a day we’re proud of.
“But that’s nine out of 12 and six out of six down here.
“All that mattered was the three points. It wasn’t about revenge or putting a result right.
“If you looked at football that way you would forever be raging at something. I’m just delighted to get the three points.”
Dunfermline are now just a point adrift of fourth place, albeit Airdrie have two games in hand.
However, with a six-point lead over Inverness Caley Thistle in the relegation play-off spot, McPake is refusing to set targets for the remaining six games.
Tight Championship
“This league is still so tight I genuinely don’t know where we are,” he claimed.
“It’s a league that changes in every minute of every game. If a team scores you can drop two places. If another team scores you’re back up.
“A couple of weeks ago we didn’t even play and we jumped a place!
“I’m just delighted to get the three points down here. That’s six out of six down here and that’s not easy to do.”
