DUNFERMLINE manager James McPake is confident his new signings will benefit from having further time to settle into the squad.
Deadline day loan signing, Cardiff City defender Xavier Benjamin, made his debut during last Saturday's loss to Greenock Morton, just a day after training with his new team-mates for the first time.
His fellow Cardiff loanee, Malachi Fagan-Walcott, made his home bow having made his first Pars appearance at Dundee United the previous week, whilst forward Brad Holmes, who joined on loan from Blackpool earlier in the same week as Benjamin, appeared from the bench.
"It'll help the more time they're in the group. That's not an easy game for them to come into, the way it ended, but they'll be fine," McPake said.
"They're good lads and, for the short period of time, taking away Saturday, they've fitted in well and they've trained well enough.
READ MORE: New boy Xavier's 'grateful' for Pars loan chance
"You can never tell how someone will play but he (Benjamin) has been in now for a week, in and around the group. The boy is a good player so I don’t think any blame can be laid at him for Saturday. He flew up Friday morning and trained. He had played on the Monday of that week so he was ready to play.
"In the circumstances had we a bigger squad, in an ideal world you might have bedded him in a little. It was a decision we made, the lad was desperate to play. Probably something I didn’t speak about after the game, just because it never came into my head. We never took him off because he was any worse than anyone else. We took him off because his hamstrings were tightening up, probably the travelling up, the lack of sleep. He is fine and has been good this week.
"The boys got round about him. That is the key thing, the group is that tight and strong, setbacks hurt but they are that good a group that they can take them and recover from them.
"Speaking to Darren Purse down at Cardiff he is a proper defender, he is vocal and for someone such a young age , he is a leader. I felt for him, I have been in that position myself where you are flung straight in and it doesn’t go well for you.
"I have complete faith he will recover to be a good football player for this football club for the rest of the season."
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