DUNFERMLINE boss Allan Johnston is poised to sign a new contract to remain at East End Park, Press Sport can reveal.

Club chairman Ross McArthur said that they have reached a verbal agreement with the 44-year-old, whose current deal expires this summer, to put pen to paper on fresh terms.

Johnston, who has previously bossed Queen of the South and Kilmarnock, was appointed in May 2015 on a one-year contract and immediately guided the Pars to the League One title with five games to spare.

Following that success, he was awarded a new two-year deal and last season led Athletic to a fifth-place finish in their return to the Championship.

A blistering start to the current campaign saw them hit the top of the table by mid-September – smashing home 21 goals in just seven games along the way – but a mid-season slump in form saw them drop out of title contention.

But after finishing their remaining 10 games unbeaten, seven of which ended in wins, Johnston’s side achieved their pre-season target of a promotion play-off place before bowing out to Dundee United last Friday night.

Following the 2-1 loss at Tannadice, Johnston said questions over his future was “a discussion for another day”, but added: “I suppose from my point of view, we’ve progressed each year. I’d rather have won the league rather than be in the play-offs, but hopefully that’s to come.

“I was there at Sunderland when we got beat in the play-off final and, to be fair, we came back the next year and won the league, so hopefully it’s a similar scenario for us next year.”

Johnston looks likely to be at the helm for another crack at promotion push next season as, speaking to Press Sport, McArthur said: “It has all been verbally agreed and hopefully we can get it sorted out over the next few weeks, but Allan’s priority at the moment is the players.

“We’ve now got to try and keep the players we want to keep. We’ve got to reflect and look at where we need to improve.

“We had targeted to get into the play-offs at the start of the season, and that’s what we got. If we didn’t have that bad spell then we might’ve been further up the table, but we were only three points off second.

“It is difficult to keep on improving, but that’s the target.”