RYAN DOW has joked that team-mate Euan Murray might be having an eye on taking on Athletic's scoring mantle after hitting the net again last Saturday.

But the experienced midfielder, who scored his second goal in as many games during Saturday's 4-1 win over IAlloa Athletic, believes that sharing the goalscoring responsibility throughout the team can stand them in good stead to enjoy a successful campaign.

Captain Murray scored his fourth of the season so far to pull Dunfermline level in their Championship opener against Inverness Caledonian Thistle at East End before Dow put them ahead with 12 minutes to go.

Declan McManus then completed the scoring with his first goal back in Pars colours since returning in the summer and, at the Indodrill Stadium, Dow put the Pars ahead in their second league encounter.

Kevin O'Hara's hat-trick from the bench completed the victory to hoist Athletic to second in the table and, while Dow laughed that Murray might be looking to have a go at Kevin Nisbet's scoring exploits last season following the Inverness clash, he believes they have greater options in their attacking armoury this time around.

The 29-year-old, who Stevie Crawford appointed as his vice-skipper in the summer, said: "We've signed a lot of good players.

"We had a good team last year, but we were maybe a bit inconsistent at times, and you could still see what we were like going forward.

"Obviously we've lost a few good players, and the main one in Nizzy, but we've brought a lot of good ones in and I think we've got a lot of different options that we maybe didn't have as much of last season.

"It's exciting times for the players, and I'm sure the fans will be thinking that as well, but I think we're an exciting team to watch going forward. We create quite a lot of chances every game and we've managed to take three and win the game.

"I scored the first game of last season so it's always good to get off and running, and the same with Deccy as well – he's been plugging away and playing really well to get that goal. Obviously Muzza's flying as well – I think he's on about four – so we need to try and catch him as well!"

When asked about the importance of sharing goals around the team - Nisbet last season top scored with 23 in all competitions, with Dow their next highest with six - the former Dundee United man replied: "We got asked that pre-season and we need to take responsibility as attacking players; me, Fraser Murray who chipped in with two during the week, Dom and obviously Kevin and Deccy, who are both off the mark as well.

"We're more of a threat this year on set pieces, which we've been working on quite a lot in training, and you see Muzza and Paul Watson going up.

"That's a big thing because if you're not playing the best in certain games, and you can score from set pieces, it's massive."

On whether Murray was using his status as the team's leading marksman so far to wind up the rest of the squad, Dow laughed: "He's not actually now, but he probably will now he hears this! He'll maybe be trying to catch Nizzy's tally of last year but I don't care who scores as long as we're winning. It'll be good if he can keep that going.

"It's massive if defenders can chip in like that, and then midfielders, other attackers and strikers, because losing Nizzy, who was our main goal threat last year, it's good if we all chip in. As long as we're winning games I don't care who scores the goals.

"It's always massive, every year, to just get that first win to get the monkey off your back, especially this season when you're cutting out the first round of fixtures. We're hoping in the next couple of games we can continue that, but it is massive, especially this strange circumstances of only having 27 games, you're missing one round out already, so to get the three points is pleasing."