JAMES MCPAKE has praised new signing Craig Clay's patience after completing a deal for the midfielder and is confidence his experience will help the Pars squad.

Following a period on trial, during which the former Motherwell player played in a bounce match with Livingston, and scored in a reserve win over Queen's Park last month, the 32-year-old has signed a one-year deal at KDM Group East End Park.

The Athletic manager made clear his desire to bring Clay into his squad, and said he admired the player's patience until an agreement was reached.

"Yeah and that's not easy, when players are looking to get themselves sorted in at a club, but I think there was an honesty there that we said to Craig look, come in, and you see how keen he was to play in games," McPake said.

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"I think then his quality shone through as well. We told him we were desperate to bring him in. It's taken a little while to get it done, but he's always been willing to come in.

"As I said, we've been open and honest with him, and now I'm delighted he's our player, and we can utilise him.

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"Since he's come in he's been excellent. He's worked really hard and, credit to him to be fair.

"He's played in a bounce game against Livingston out there, he also played in a reserve game.

"Sometimes when players do come in, there's a worry, there's a fear, of injury or whatever, but Craig has trained every single day.

"As I said, he played in those games, and we've all been really impressed with him over the period he's been in. I'm delighted to get it over the line."

McPake said that adding a player of Clay's experience - he's also turned out for a number of clubs south of the border, including Grimsby Town, Leyton Orient and Sutton United - was "key".

"We are a very young squad, and that's what we want to do," he continued.

"We want to produce these younger players, or help these younger players, and I think there's a good group of experienced ones there.

"Deniz (Mehmet) is experienced, Joe Chalmers is experienced, and even from the other night (against Raith Rovers), and I'll miss a few out I'm sure, the other experienced ones, but Aaron (Comrie) I think in the game, Aaron's only 26 and he's going down as an experienced one as well.

"Obviously Kano (Chris Kane) and David Wotherspoon were on the pitch as well, but we felt we needed that in the group, and Craig fits the bill. He's played a lot of football.

"Obviously he's got experience of Scottish football as well, from his season in the Premiership with Motherwell, where he played a lot of games, and a lot of experience in the leagues in England as well.

"He'll be invaluable to us as coaches, but also to that young group of players."