STEVIE CRAWFORD praised his team for showing "quality" and "confidence" to see off Arbroath at East End last night.

The Dunfermline head coach was a happy man after watching Kevin Nisbet grab a double - his eighth and ninth goals of the season - in the second half against Dick Campbell's side.

The result avenged a single-goal loss at Gayfield when the clubs met in August and, as well as providing an ideal response from Saturday's reverse to Dundee United, chalked up a second successive home victory.

He commented: "I said after Saturday that, especially in the second half, our performance and the way we tried to get ourselves back in the game was very encouraging.

"Tonight it was a bit frustrating in the first half. I know we had a few balls fizzed across the face of goal that we were very unlucky not get on the end of, but it was a case of saying to the boys at half-time to not let that frustration get to us, concentrate and try to get that first goal.

"I think then we saw the quality that's in the side and the bit of confidence that they've got at the moment to go on and win the game.

"Pates (Paul Paton) has played a great ball and Andy Ryan's used his pace to get in behind, showed the composure to hold it up and then played the ball in to Nizzy (Nisbet) who's finished well.

"Again I think it was Pates who played the ball through, Nizzy's timed his run really well and managed to stick the ball away for the second.

"In the end, it could have probably been more."

Crawford continued: "This year, we're scoring more goals but we've been a little bit more vulnerable in terms of our defending and with the rub of the green.

"I think even tonight you could have said we had a chance of a couple of penalty kicks. We're not getting them, but there's no point crying over it.

"All I want is the boys to perform the way they do, show that commitment, and that first half - albeit we didn't go in leading the way - gave ourselves an opportunity to win the game."

A surprise name on the team-sheet was 16-year-old left-sided player Miller Fenton, a product of the Fife Elite Football Academy, and Crawford added: "He's been doing well and it was right for us to give him his opportunity on the bench and, as long as we continue to develop players and we’re competing in this league, hopefully the future looks good for us."

Meanwhile his opposite number, who brought Crawford to Dunfermline on loan from Hibernian in 1999 during his stint in the Pars hotseat, conceded his Arbroath outfit didn't deserve to take anything from the match.

"Dunfermline deserved to win the game. I don’t think there’s any doubts about that and I’ve not got any complaints about that," Campbell said.

"I haven’t got any influence on Dunfermline, but I’ve got plenty of influence on my own team. We were on the back of two victories, a convincing victory on Saturday against Partick, and a convincing victory the week before, and we earned it but we didn’t earn anything tonight. The two goals that Dunfermline got were soft.

"It’s a very difficult place to come to because the fans were baying for bookings and every time you have a tackle, they’re wanting a player booked. I see that. It’s because of the pressure that’s on here, but in a lot of ways, I’m glad for Stephen. He’s a good boy Stevie Crawford, and they deserved to win the game. I'm just annoyed at our performance really.

"I just felt we weren’t at it. Maybe it’s the part-time thing, I don’t know, but I made five changes to Saturday which is a strong thing to do. But I do that regular and, at the day, I make the decisions and I’ll make the decisions this week too!"

He added: "I’ve been involved with this club (Pars) all my life and I know how difficult it is for Stephen, and I know how difficult it is for us to come here, but you’ve got to take the game to Dunfermline and I didn’t think we did that tonight.

They totally deserved to win the game in the second half."