PROMOTION may have been out of reach this year but Aaron Comrie has at least been able to celebrate being tops in the eyes of Pars fans.

The 24-year-old, who moved to East End from St Johnstone in the summer of 2019, has been voted as the Dunfermline Athletic Centenary Club Lifeline Player of the Year by the club's supporters.

For a second successive season, because of COVID-19, the club's annual awards event has been unable to take place at the Glen Pavilion, but supporters were still invited to cast their ballot for their player of the year, young player of the year and goal of the season.

It is perhaps little surprise that the top award, which is sponsored by Ian Baker, has gone to Comrie, whose consistency at right back made him a popular choice and clear winner.

Having played in all but one of Athletic's matches in the curtailed 2019/20 campaign, he has again been one of head coach Stevie Crawford's first choices on the team sheet this time around, featuring in 29 of their 36 fixtures in all competitions.

In one of those, February's 4-1 win over Raith Rovers, Comrie scored a fine solo effort for his only goal of the campaign, and his second since arriving at the club, having signed a new two-year contract to stay with the club until 2023 the previous month.

Comrie's fellow full-back, left-sided player Josh Edwards, picked up two awards in what has been an impressive second season at the club.

The 20-year-old, who played 19 times last term, has made the left back position his own throughout the 2020/21 campaign, and has impressed sufficently to be named as the Joe Nelson Young Player of the Year, and the Manager and Coaching Staff Young Player of the Year.

The former award, sponsored by Barbara Anne Nelson, daughter of the club's legendary former trainer and kit man, and family, is another voted for by the fans and they have given their seal of approval to the former Airdrieonians player, who missed only two of Dunfermline's matches throughout the season.

Crawford and his coaching team also were given the chance to pick out their player of the year, and they have handed that accolade to centre back Paul Watson.

The experienced 30-year-old, who can count the likes of Falkirk, Raith Rovers and Dundee United, from whom he joined the Pars last summer, amongst his former clubs, has been a consistent performer at the heart of Dunfermline's defence, which by the end of the season was the joint fourth meanest in the league.

Another key contributor to that statistic, and of seven goals at the other end of the pitch, was captain Euan Murray, who has received the Gary Riddell Trophy as the Players' Player of the Year.

The 27-year-old couldn't stop finding the net at the beginning of the season, with all of his goals coming in the club's first 10 games, which saw them move to the top of the table and advance to the Betfred Cup quarter-finals.

Murray, who arrived from Raith Rovers in 2019, played in 33 of Dunfermline's 36 games but is out of contract this summer, with his future uncertain.

The final award presented by the Centenary Club Lifeline was another that was voted for by the supporters, which was Goal of the Season.

Eight strikes were shortlisted, including Declan McManus' goals in a 3-1 win over Inverness, a 2-2 draw at Raith and a 3-3 thriller at Dundee; Fraser's Murray's free-kicks at Kilmarnock, in the Betfred Cup, and at home to Raith; Comrie's goal in that same derby win; and Kevin O'Hara's effort in the 3-2 loss at Dundee in March.

The winner, though, was Craig Wighton's audacious chip in that same game, one of six goals he netted since arriving on loan from Heart of Midlothian in February, ahead of his pre-contract move this summer.

Since its relaunch in 2013, the Centenary Club Lifeline - which is the major fundraising arm in support of the football club through member contributions - has raised £1,447,422 for the Pars.

Prizes are up for grabs at each home game and, to find out more or to join, email lifeline@dafc.co.uk.