RYAN SCULLY says that his enjoyment of playing first-team football meant he had no hesitation in extending his loan deal with the Pars.

The 21-year-old agreed to remain at East End Park until the end of the season from Partick Thistle after initially joining until January and he has been an ever-present in goal for manager Jim Jefferies.

His performances so far in Dunfermline colours have led to widespread praise from supporters as well as his boss, with Scully having to be in top form to help his side battle back to earn a point against Forfar last Saturday.

As he prepared for this weekend's return to Somerset Park to play Ayr United, Scully told Press Sport he hadn't ruled out staying at East End Park permanently.

He said, "It has been brilliant so far and the team have been doing well which has helped. The most important thing for me this season was to be playing games which I haven't really been doing in the last few years.

"I could've gone back to Thistle and might not even be sitting on the bench whereas here I'm playing and we're doing well so it wasn't a hard decision at all.

"Now I'm playing first-team football hopefully everyone is seeing the best of me and I can put my name out there and have options.

"My contract ends at the end of the season so it's up to Thistle or whoever after that. But it couldn't have gone much better for me here." The Pars keeper travelled with the squad for their Christmas night out in Newcastle last weekend which he said had helped to strengthen the team's spirit even further, typified by the way they battled right until the end to grab an unlikely point against Forfar.

He was called upon to make three crucial second-half saves to keep Dunfermline in the game and said, "It's just being part of a goalkeeper and as we were pushing for it we were likely to get caught on the counter attack so it's my job to stop them and thankfully I made three saves.

"It's nice to make a few saves but I'll take boring 1-0 wins every week with me not doing anything!

"We've got another tough game on Saturday and hopefully I'll be a bit less busy than the cup game and we can get a few points picked up."