CONVERSATIONS with two familiar faces around East End was all it took to convince Fraser Murray to cross the Forth for this season.

And the 21-year-old is hopeful that his stint in black and white from Hibernian can help his career continue on an upward trajectory like that of Easter Road team-mate Kevin Nisbet – while helping Dunfermline to challenge for promotion.

After been linked with a move to the club for a number of weeks, the former Scotland under-19 international put pen to paper on a season-long loan deal, having trained with and played for the Pars as a trialist in pre-season.

He appeared from the bench during last night's Betfred Cup win at Dumbarton and, speaking to Press Sport, Murray said that both Nisbet, and Hibees assistant head coach John Potter, had influenced his decision to sign for Stevie Crawford’s side.

“I was buzzing with it; it was the place I wanted to go,” he explained.

“Kevin Nisbet was there last year and you see the step he’s made up to the Premier League. He spoke about the club, and I spoke to a few others who have been at the club. Obviously, Potts has been there as well, and he couldn’t speak highly enough of the club, so I was happy with that.

“Nizzy was just speaking about the kind of boys they had and that they’re not just good players but good people and good to be around, the football and how they play. We were speaking about it from that point of view and he said I’d fit in really well there.

“When he said that, I was happy, and Potts was saying the same kind of things. He’s good pals with the gaffer at Dunfermline and was saying it’s a good place to be, and that will be the right move for me in the next step in my career.”

His former team-mate at Hibs, Steven Whittaker, moved to Dunfermline in the summer and Murray said that he had also spoken to him about the move.

“It was like a talk to try and persuade me to come on loan but I didn’t need persuaded, I was already happy. I told him then I was happy to come,” he continued.

“When you go on loan, you’re not guaranteed to play. Personally, I’d rather go somewhere where there’s competition so it makes you train better, play better, because you need to be on your game every week. You need to be on top in training every week to be in the manager’s thoughts at the weekend, so that’s another big thing I wanted.

“I didn’t want to go somewhere where there’s not a lot of competition and there’s not a lot of people in your place. At Dunfermline, there’s a lot of good players; Dom Thomas in my position, Ryan Dow, Kyle Turner and a few other boys.

“When you see the boys they’re bringing in during lockdown, I had a good feel about it. It looks like we can challenge hopefully up the top end of the league this year.”

One of the teams that Dunfermline will face are Hibs’ capital rivals, Hearts, who are favourites in many quarters to seal an immediate return to the top flight.

However, creative midfielder Murray believes there will be a number of sides who will fancy their chances of making a promotion bid, including Dunfermline, and says their team spirit could carry them a long way.

“There’s a good number of games in there with good teams and good players so it will be an interesting season,” he added.

“Looking at our squad the now, I feel confident training with the boys, and with the games we’ve played as well, that we can get off to a good start.

“I was in training for a few weeks first before I signed. That was good; I got a feel for everyone and I settled in right away. All the boys were brilliant with me first day I came and I really enjoy coming in every day now.

“There’s a lot of good teams in the league this year that fancy themselves to go up, whether that be through winning the league or the play-offs, but I think we need to take each game as it comes and try and get maximum points in each game.

“We’ve got a good squad lined up for this year so I’m looking forward to it.”