MICHAEL O'HALLORAN has revealed that the connection between the players and the supporters was one of the first things he noticed after joining the Pars.

Now the fit-again 32-year-old is eager to repay their backing with more success on the pitch for a club he believes is of top flight standard.

A two-time Scottish Cup winner with St Johnstone, with whom he also lifted the League Cup, O'Halloran joined Dunfermline in the summer after departing the Perth outfit for a third time.

O'Halloran, who also had spells with Rangers, and in Australia with Melbourne City, made his competitive debut in the Viaplay Cup group stage draw at Raith Rovers in July.

However, a hamstring issue sidelined him for Athletic's next four games before making his first start in last month's draw at Dundee United.

He then made his first home appearance in a competitive game against Raith Rovers, the atmosphere at which he described as being "terrific".

O'Halloran said that he "noticed straight away that the fans are excellent", and believes it is important that he and his team-mates given them reasons to get them off their seats.

"You can see that there is a good connection with the team on the pitch," he said.

"Coming in I noticed it straight away. The boys were incredible last season to win the league quite comfortably. They have built up that connection with the fans and hopefully we can repay them.

"I look at the infrastructure, and the fans, and it is a Premiership club. That's the first thing that I noticed. For whatever reason, they ended up where they ended up, but you hear the aspirations from everybody to get back there.

"It has that big club feel about it and it’s good to come in an environment where they are always pushing. I like that challenge so, for me, it was the right decision.

"I came in to train for a few days and I knew straight away, looking about the place, that I liked what I saw. When I spoke to the gaffer it was an easy choice.

"I've definitely settled in well. Obviously the group and the staff make it a very welcoming environment; it's a nice place to come to work every day."

The move to KDM Group East End Park saw O'Halloran link-up again with Dave Mackay, the current Pars assistant boss who was his captain at St Johnstone, and in the side that lifted their first Scottish Cup in 2014.

However, whilst a fitness issue put the brakes on his start to life as a Pars player, the attacker says he is now feeling better, even if he felt he was "not ready to finish a game yet" prior to the weekend trip to Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

"I’m feeling better and that’s coming through in training as well," O'Halloran continued.

"It has been a while since I trained and played regularly, so it's good to train hard throughout the week with the game to look forward to on a Saturday. That’s important - any player will tell you that. You don’t want to train all week for nothing.

"Obviously, you need to train and keep yourself fit, but you need that prize at the end of the week to get in the team. I feel my fitness is getting better every week.

"It was a hamstring thing. Because I had done a lot and then come back into training, and a couple of pre-season games, I just felt a little twinge. It wasn’t massive, but my body just needed to get used to training and playing again. That was it more so. All good now; the physios have been great and I’m ready to push on now.

"I have been fortunate not to have any bad injuries; some players have been really unfortunate. Quicker players are more prone to hamstring injuries, which is why you've got to be that wee bit more careful.

"When you're explosive, we're going to put lot of tension on that, so it's about prehabbing and making sure that they're strong and right.

"I’m in training and playing again, so it's getting better.”