PARS boss Allan Johnston says hearing in-form winger Kallum Higginbotham express his desire to stay with the club is “brilliant”.

The 27-year-old, who capped a superb fightback by bagging Athletic’s second goal in Saturday’s 2-2 thriller at Hibernian, has said he would be keen to extend the one-year deal he signed with the club last summer.

Gathering league points is Johnston’s immediate priority but, speaking to Press Sport this week, he commented: “I think Higgy’s come in and said before that he’s enjoying his football. He’s had a lot of knocks over the last few years in his career but he’s just somebody who wants play, wants to do well and wants to feel appreciated. I think everybody realises how good a player he is for us and it always makes a difference when you’ve got the fans on your side and getting behind you.

“At the start of the season, he was in and out of the team a wee bit and then obviously he’s got in and is playing the way we want him to play. You can see that with the performances he’s produced but he needs to keep on doing that.”

Higginbotham’s leveller crowned a tremendous Pars display at Easter Road when they fought back from two goals down to earn a point in a game that they should have won.

Johnston, who rates Lewis Martin as doubtful, wants the same level of performance when Dumbarton and Queen of the South come calling and continued: “I thought it was one of the best of the season, especially when you’re playing quality opposition. Some of the football was really good and the boys showed a lot of quality play. We’re disappointed losing the two goals but look at the response – that’s what you’re looking for. The boys reacted really well because we could’ve collapsed at that point.

“The boys don’t know when they’re beaten and we’ve just got to continue those types of performances. The wins will come because we’re creating enough chances. It will give them confidence, especially going into a massive week next week, where we’ve got three big fixtures that we’re trying to get results from.

“That’s where we need to raise our game to week-in, week-out. We know it’s difficult but the boys have shown they’re more than capable of doing that.

“But we know in this league it’s very tight. You can see with the amount of draws there’s not much between the teams but we’ve got to make sure we put in a performance like we did at the weekend.”