RETURNING Pars star Paul Allan has admitted he is desperate to "make up for lost time" and play his part in aiding their push for League One title glory.

The 23-year-old played his first match for the first team in seven months on Saturday, coming off the bench at half-time during the scoreless draw with FC Edinburgh, after regaining fitness following an injury-hit spell.

The midfielder, a graduate of the former Fife Elite Football Academy, played in each of Dunfermline's Viaplay Cup group stage games at the beginning of the campaign, and their opening two league encounters, before being ruled out with a stress fracture in his foot.

Allan, who last appeared, ironically, in a 3-0 victory at Edinburgh in August, had returned to training in late October but, after being named on the bench for November's win at Falkirk, suffered a setback that required surgery.

He returned to the squad for the draw at home to Airdrieonians last month and, after four matches as an unused substitute, he was given an appearance he described as "unexpected" at the weekend.

"I'm delighted to get back playing," he said.

"Obviously, it was a wee bit unexpected with the change at half-time, but I'm always happy to get back on the pitch and, to get 45 minutes, I'm delighted to be back out.

"This season for me, personally, hasn’t exactly gone to plan. I only played the first two league games of the season.

"I need to make up for lost time and try and play as much game time until the end of the season."

The only disappointment for Allan was that he didn't mark his comeback with a victory, as the visitors frustrated the league leaders.

"We didn't really create enough in both halves I would say," he continued.

"We didn't test the goalie as much as we'd want to.

"We expected them to sit in and make it hard for us to break down. It did turn into a bit of a scrappy game, which I think was brought on by some of the tackles. It was a bit heated at times, but we tried to take the sting out of it as much as possible, by keeping the ball on the ground and moving it.

"We just couldn't break them down, and I think that brought on the scrappy side of the game.

"It is frustrating that you can't break teams down when you have a lot of the ball. We tried to go wide as much as possible because Kane (Ritchie-Hosler) was getting a lot of joy, and doing well, putting good crosses into the box.

"That looked the best route to get a goal but, unfortunately, we couldn't get one in the end."