THE arrival of Faissal El Bakhtaoui sent social media into a frenzy this summer as the fan favourite returned to East End Park.

Adored by supporters and even hailed by many as the ‘Moroccan Magician’, his goals helped catapult the Pars back to the Championship in 2016, with his stunning form earning him a move to Premiership side Dundee.

The magic has faded somewhat during his second spell with Athletic though, and he says he’s lost some confidence following a barren spell in front of goal.

However, he feels it’s only a matter of time before he breaks his 16-game scoring duck and hits his first league goal of the season.

He told Press Sport: “This season has been a bit frustrating for me.

“It’s all about confidence. When you score, your confidence grows. I think that one goal is all I need.

“I think I’ve sometimes been trying too hard to score. I think I just have to relax and once I get my goal, my confidence will come back and I’ll go and score more.

“The gaffer, Sandy Clark and Stevie Crawford have told me to relax and assured me that it will come.

“They give me confidence every week.

“They see I get frustrated in training when I don’t score. I’m not happy when I miss chances in training.

“Stevie told me that he was in the same position as me during his career. He told me just to relax, keep going and once I score my first goal, more will come.

“The gaffer and Sandy Clark help me all the time and tell me to keep working hard, too.”

Before re-joining Allan Johnston’s side on a season-long loan in July, the Morrocan spent two campaigns playing with Dundee in Scotland’s top flight.

Utilised through the middle, behind the striker and out wide by managers Paul Hartley and Neil McCann, his spell with the Tayside club has been “frustrating”, he says.

But he feels that he’s proved he can play at the highest level, recalling a stunning strike against Celtic among others.

He said: “I scored goals for Dundee against big teams like Celtic, Dundee United and Rangers. The Premiership is harder than the Championship and I scored goals against those big teams.

“Sometimes football works really well for you, and sometimes you can’t really help what happens.

“I’m trying my best here though. I know what fans think when I’m not scoring. It is a hard league but I know I can prove that I can score in this league too.”

Competition for starting places in the squad is fierce, with Myles Hippolyte, Aidan Keena, Robbie Muirhead and Andy Ryan all starting for the Pars up front this season.

The 26-year-old added: “They’re all good players. It’s a hard one for the gaffer as they all play well in training and look to impress.

“It’s a competition between us and I think it pushes us to score goals in training and work harder to get in the team on Saturday every week.

“We’ve got a really good team but football isn’t going our way at the moment. You sometimes just need that bit of luck to go your way to change things.

“It’s going to be a big game for us against Ross County on Saturday.

“We played really well against Falkirk in our last game and we should have won. We were frustrated but we now need to concentrate on the next game.

“We know that they’re a good team but we’re confident we can win.”