OWAIN FÔN WILLIAMS insists that the Pars will take “plenty of positives” into Saturday’s play-off second leg after what he described as a “professional performance”.

The experienced Welsh international goalkeeper was a virtual spectator for much of the opening game with Raith Rovers – in the first half particularly – as Dunfermline created numerous chances on Tuesday night.

Kevin O’Hara, Craig Wighton, Declan McManus and Ewan Henderson were among those who saw opportunities fail to turn into a goal that Athletic’s play deserved, having also restricted their Fife rivals to very little.

On the rare occasion Rovers did fashion an opportunity, Fôn Williams, 34, was there to deny Lewis Vaughan in what was his main piece of work during the 90 minutes midway through the second period.

The former Hamilton Academical and Inverness Caledonian Thistle player, who is also the club’s goalkeeping coach, credited the work of his outfield colleagues for a largely quiet evening on a personal note, and said that there were plenty of plusses to take to Kirkcaldy.

The tie couldn’t be more finely-balanced ahead of that game, and Fôn Williams told Press Sport post-match: “I think it was a very good performance all round, a very professional performance.

“Our shape was very good; we limited them I thought. Obviously, Raith are a very good footballing side, they’re good at getting the ball down and playing, but what we did really was we tried to stop them from playing.

“That’s what they’re good at. They’re good at moving the ball from one side of the pitch to the other, and when we did that, we were able to counter and we had a couple of decent chances from that.”

When asked if there was a sense of frustration that they didn’t find themselves in front, particularly at half-time, he replied: “I wouldn’t say frustrated at all.

“The lads worked their socks off there; the boys did ever so well. Our defensive shape, and winning the ball back, was excellent and then, in transition, that gave the more attacking-minded players the opportunity then to get in the positions you want them to be in.

“Especially towards the end, there was two fantastic chances in the box. It’s very pleasing with the amount of opportunities we had in front of goals.

“There were some good crosses coming in, so there was plenty of decent chances and that’s a bonus.”

Naturally, Fôn Williams was pleased with his team’s defensive discipline, which saw their opponents struggle to create anything of note, and he continued: “That’s purely because of the shape.

“As a team, it’s not down to one person for you to have a good defensive performance, it has to be collectively.

“It starts from the forward players and filters right through the midfielders, defenders and obviously the goalie. We limited them as much space as possible in front of goal and, because of that, we limited them with opportunities.

“Obviously, it’s going to be a different game (on Saturday) because it’s a different surface. They’re going to be used to that and it’s something we need to get used to, adapt to.

“But there are plenty of positives from this game to go into that one.”

Head coach Stevie Crawford added: “To get a clean sheet was important as well, that solid base.

“Collectively, the pleasing thing is, the boys at the back play their part to allow us to play good football going forward and create chances but, equally, the boys at the front did their job the other night to keep a clean sheet.”