DEBUTANT Kerr McInroy bagged two goals from the bench as he helped Dunfermline to victory in their second pre-season match on Tuesday.

The 20-year-old, who joined on loan from Celtic earlier in the day, scored within six minutes of coming on before netting from 20 yards with five minutes to go during the 3-0 victory over Lowland League Spartans.

Dom Thomas, who signed for the club permanently in the close season following a successful loan spell from Kilmarnock last term, had opened the scoring early on at Ainslie Park for a Pars side featuring a mix of first-team players, youths and trialists.

Head coach Stevie Crawford picked a squad along similar lines for Saturday's first match since the COVID-19 lockdown in March at League Two Stenhousemuir.

Former Raith Rovers and Cowdenbeath hitman Greig Spence, who also coaches the under-20s at Inverkeithing Hillfield Swifts, scored from the spot in the seventh minute to give the Warriors the lead, only for one of Athletic's trialists to net a superb long-range equaliser on the half-hour mark.

Crawford was pleased with the minutes his players got under their belts but revealed some players – including goalkeeper Owain Fon Williams – had missed out having picked up slight knocks in training.

"For Saturday, there were a couple of the boys that are naturally fit that got more than 45 minutes but, in the main, boys were given 45 minutes," he explained.

"On Tuesday night, we sort of flipped it. Other than Kyle Turner coming off for Kerr (McInroy) to get 45 minutes each, everybody else in the main played an hour, and other boys got 30 minutes. It's exactly how we wanted the game time to go.

"The one thing we haven't done is taken any chances on those who have got any wee niggles or are maybe feeling tight because we don't want to risk possibly putting boys out for longer periods. We'll hopefully get another few back fit for Saturday's game against East Fife to get some game time under their belts as well.

"We're now back on the training field but Stenhousemuir was our first 11 v 11 game; I can't stress that enough. We weren't even allowed to play 11 v 11 games on the training pitch, so there was stuff condensed.

"When things are condensed, there's more chance of picking up collisions, boys bumping into one another and getting knocks. Owain was one of them that's picked up a little knock; it would be silly to throw him in when his body's needing a little bit of time to recover."

He added: "On Tuesday night I thought, in the first half, we created a number of chances. It was just a little bit of rustiness; stuff we can work on on the training pitch, and more games, will bring that sharpness and the final wee bit of quality that you need to score goals.

"The flip side to that is that the goals we did score were very well-taken; Dom Thomas with a great finish in the first half, and then Kerr's introduction at half-time. One of the things we'd seen in Kerr is that he can score goals from the midfield, and he showed that within five minutes of being on the park.

"It's great that he's integrated with the squad, he settled in fine last night, and he's another good addition to us."

This Saturday, Dunfermline travel to East Fife for their latest pre-season fixture, which will again be behind closed doors.