PARS boss James McPake insisted that his team had to get the supporters “off their seat” and “something to cheer about” on Tuesday.

A joyous KDM Group East End Park revelled in the team’s 2-0 win over bitter rivals Falkirk, which moved them eight points clear at the top of League One with nine games left.

Rhys Breen and Matty Todd were the goal heroes in a second half that Dunfermline dominated, having also struck the woodwork at the end of the opening period through Chris Mochrie, and McPake was delighted to give the 7,000 plus home fans a night to remember.

He did, however, caution that, despite the strong position they find themselves in to win the title and return to the Championship at the first time of asking following last term’s relegation, they must stay focused for the challenges that lie ahead.

When it was put to him that it was great night for the fans, the boss replied: “We had to make sure of that. It sounds daft, and I can easily say it now, but we had to give the fans something to cheer about, whether it finished 0-0 or not.

“We had to get them off their seat. It’s the biggest crowd in a decade in here, which I think the players deserve all the credit for that.

“It was a big crowd tonight but, when they’re coming in, they know whoever we’re playing, even when it’s 4 or 5,000 there, they come every week because they know those players just give everything on the pitch.

“They don’t stop running, they get after teams, they keep going to the end, even when they’re down in games, so the players deserve the credit for that, because they’re the ones that had to come back in after last season on a bit of a downer after what had happened.

“A lot of them are still there so, to pick themselves up so quickly, come in and, I don’t want it to sound too simple, because it’s what I firmly believe, and it’s not simple, it’s probably the hardest thing to do, but they just work hard every single day.

“They give everything for this football club and that’s why the fans are coming back in, but we know we need to keep doing that.

“If we keep doing that then we hope to get big crowds in. That’s what we want; that’s excellent to manage in and to coach in. You wish you were playing, actually, when you see that and that type of atmosphere.

“That’s when you miss playing more, under the lights, big crowd, so the players deserve the credit for that.”

McPake added: “ You couldn’t hide from it; the demand for tickets, everything. It felt like you were playing in a really big game. We tried to take as much of that away as we could but you’ve got to be realistic as well and just tell them it is a big game, but they had caused it by being so good.

“The gap is what it is. We hope it’s more on Saturday but, if we keep worrying about a gap, and take our eye off the next three points, then we could become unstuck really quickly. We’ve still got a lot of good teams to play between now and the end of the season.”