DOM THOMAS has hailed his manager’s “perfect” timing in bringing him back into the Pars side and their connection off the park.

Dunfermline’s wing wizard made his first start since November in Friday night’s draw with Morton and followed it up with a scintillating, man-of-the-match performance in Tuesday’s thrashing of Partick Thistle.

Thomas had been eased back into top-team action by John Hughes with three substitute appearances prior, having returned to the squad at the end of January after undergoing knee surgery to repair a meniscus tear.

As well as lashing home Dunfermline’s fourth goal against the Jags, the former Kilmarnock star was the creator for Matty Todd and Josh Edwards to find the net, and his manager post-match waxed lyrical about how much he enjoys the player’s “cockiness and banter”.

“Me and the gaffer get on well. I think we’re similar personalities; loud and lively about the place,” Thomas commented.

“We get on well and, again, he knows what I can do. I know I need to work hard for him, and work hard for the team. It’s a good connection.

“You know yourself, you’re watching your own team and you’re on the bench or in the stand, you’re helpless when you can’t control it. For me, sitting on the bench, it was frustrating when I knew I could do what I do.

“That’s hard for me. I got my op late in December, and I think I wanted to be back in two weeks, and I know that can’t be done. I was on to the physio every day to let me back in training.

“To be fair to Tommy Scanlon, the physio, he was brilliant with me. He got me back fit and strong, and feeling better than before, so all credit to him. The gaffer had to keep the reins on me, just drip me in and out training, and obviously when the games start, I wanted to play every week.

“I just had to keep the trust in the manager and, again, his timing was perfect. I think putting me in the last two games has helped the team out and we’ve got the points on the board.”

On his performance against Thistle, Thomas continued: “That’s what I’m expected to do. Obviously, it’s been frustrating getting back from injury and being out the team. I knew, when I got my chance, I could take it, so I was confident in myself.

“To be fair, everyone at the club’s confident in me as well – the manager, the staff – so I knew when I got on the pitch, I just needed to deliver.”

A delighted Hughes beamed: “He’s in the zone at this moment in time. He’s found himself coming back from that injury and we’ve kept the reins on him.

“He’s not a great patient but it’s a mind game at times you have to play with Dom, but when he’s on that kind of form, then he’s an asset to any team.

“I’m delighted for him. I like Dom, I like all that cockiness and banter and all that stuff; it’s right up my street. But he needs to know when to do it, when not to do it, and it’s football first. His football over the last two games, since he’s come back in, he’s been exceptional.

“I keep saying that it’s difficult when you feel that you’re doing a lot of things right in the games, and it’s been like that for a while now. You need to keep believing in the process, what we’re doing and the philosophy, carry on what we have been doing.

“They worked very hard on the training pitch to try and get it right, and when it comes off, it’s very, very pleasing.”

Hughes added that Lewis McCann, who missed Tuesday’s game with a shoulder knock sustained against Morton, should be fit for Saturday’s trip to Inverness, while Steven Lawless needed stitches to a cut to his eye sustained in the closing stages.