Jim Jefferies buoyed by Dunfermline fightback

Dunfermline manager Jim Jefferies is expecting a roller-coaster ride from his young team this season and hopes their “monumental” comeback at the weekend can boost them against Falkirk tonight.
Jim Jefferies: Young team. Picture: SNSJim Jefferies: Young team. Picture: SNS
Jim Jefferies: Young team. Picture: SNS

Jefferies knows an extended League Cup run would help ease the club’s ascent out of administration but is wary of heaping an extra burden on the shoulders of a side that clearly makes up in spirit and fight what it lacks in first-team experience.

Deprived by a signing embargo of the experienced signings he had hoped to make this summer, Jefferies has watched his team go from defeats to Arbroath and Raith Rovers to Saturday’s stunning 5-4 victory over Stenhousemuir.

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And, as they seek to progress to what could be a money-spinning third-round tie, Jefferies wants another determined display tonight as the East End Park outfit try to overcome their hosts from a league above.

He said: “It’s a tough draw for us, away from home, but we’ve got to go there and try and get through to the next round.

“If you can get through, there’s a chance to make a decent bit of money if you can draw one of the big boys in the next round.

“It’s a roller-coaster ride at the moment and Tuesday will be the boys’ fourth game in 10 days, so it’s a big ask for them.

“It was monumental, to come back from 3-0 down and 4-2 down with a young team. They kept believing and kept playing well, and scored some great goals, and it was euphoric to get to 5-4.”

Meanwhile, Falkirk midfielder Blair Alston is hoping new striker Phillip Roberts can be just as lethal as former favourites Farid El Alagui and Lyle Taylor.

The former Arsenal trainee, who signed earlier this summer after spending last term on loan at Inverness, netted a perfect hat-trick in Saturday’s 3-0 win at Livingston to take his tally for the season to five.

Alston played alongside El Alagui and Taylor as they each notched 27 goals in recent successive campaigns before their respective departures, and he said: “We seem to have a knack of pulling someone out that’s going to bang in 30 goals a season. Hopefully him or Rory Loy, or both of them together, can score plenty goals. They have started off well.”