DUNFERMLINE manager James McPake has heaped praise on Nikolay Todorov after he "produced again" for his team.

The Bulgarian centre forward was handed his first start since February for Tuesday evening's match at Peterhead, and repaid the faith of his boss by slotting home the opener in Athletic's 2-0 victory.

The 26-year-old, signed by Peter Grant in the summer of 2021, has often been cited by McPake as being unfortunate not to play more often, who is enthused by the player's attitude and contribution.

"One thing about the big man is he trains fantastically well," McPake said.

"He got on on Saturday (at Falkirk), but there are games when he doesn't get on. His attitude never changes; that's all you can ever ask.

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"It's not easy when you are that player. They all think they should be playing, which we want - they want to be pushing their team-mates - but he never lets me down. He never lets the football club down, and he never lets his team-mates down.

"I'm delighted that he got the goal. It was a fantastic pass from Joe (Chalmers); a great pick out, and a great touch and finish. It is another important goal.

"The number of times we look at Nikolay and the goals that he does score, they are very important. It was important that we got that first goal tonight.

"The big man produced again, so I'm delighted for him."

Todorov, though, was immediately substituted after scoring, with Craig Wighton, who signed a new contract with the club on Thursday, and grabbed the team's second goal, and Chris Mochrie, a replacement for Chris Hamilton, having already been readied beforehand.

When asked if he almost changed his mind over taking Todorov off after his goal, McPake replied: "No.

"Going back to the squad, when you can bring Craig Wighton on, I could have brought Kevin O'Hara on. Chris Mochrie and Paul McGowan came on, and I'm delighted for Paul Allan to come back as well.

"When you have that strong a squad, then I think you just stick with your decision. If we had drawn the game I would have blamed somebody else!

"It proved to be the right decision, Craig got the (second) goal and it made it a comfortable evening for us. That’s the beauty of this team. They don’t sulk, they don’t moan when they are not playing.

"Yeah, they will not be happy, but that’s fine, you would expect that. They come on and just work away. They work hard because they all love being part of it and they have all been a part of it throughout the full season.

"Thirty two games now, one defeat and they have all put their shoulder to the wheel. They have all shown quality. There’s a couple in there, Deniz (Mehmet) and Kyle Benedictus, who have played every minute of every game.

"When you see that and ones who have been out, coming back in, starting – ones like Paul Allan now back. It is great to work with them because they train very well, they play very well and, like Saturday, they never know when they are beat."

Wighton, meanwhile, took his tally for the season to 16 following his effort against the Blue Toon, and McPake added: "It took us a while to get the knee (injury he had) right at the start of the season, but we knew when we got that right we've got a really good striker in there. He's proven to be that.

"He was probably disappointed not to start the game, but we've got a fantastic squad.

"When you look at the players we didn’t bring on tonight – Kevin O’Hara, Robbie Mahon, Max Little – there are players who are not coming on that are very good quality as well. I wouldn’t say it’s tough, because it is a good headache to have.

"With that squad, you can pick different teams. With Macca (Kyle MacDonald) coming on for Kane Ritchie-Hosler tonight, the squad is really strong."