ATHLETIC had an offer accepted to try and bring centre back Lee Ashcroft back to the club.

James McPake has confirmed that the Pars were keen on bringing in the 30-year-old to KDM Group East End Park, who has today joined Fife rivals, Raith Rovers.

The Kirkcaldy club announced earlier that Ashcroft had signed on loan from Dundee until the end of the season, and they have pipped Dunfermline in the race for his signature.

Ashcroft joined the Pars from Kilmarnock in the summer of 2016, and went on to captain the team before being released in May 2020, after which McPake took him to Tayside.

The Athletic gaffer was keen on a reunion, commenting: "Yes, the offer was accepted by Dundee.

"We had numerous conversations with Tony Docherty (Dundee manager) and with the player as well. It’s football, it comes down to a decision.

"There is nothing else that I could have done, nothing else the football club could have done to try and sign the player and the decision was made so we move on.

Dunfermline Press:

"We are still trying but I was optimistic last week for two and we got one. We have got to the end of the month.

"I will not lie, we wanted to bring Lee Ashcroft to the club. He has been here before and there is a bit of history with the club. He has been the club captain, I had worked with him and we had a pretty successful time. I know what he can bring to a football club.

READ MORE: 'He's looking great': Pars boss provides update on absent star

"We also had to have other people there working away looking at them. Some of them are ones that you wouldn’t expect to leave their clubs, but you just never know with eight days of a window to go. You just never know, we are in constant touch with the agents and other managers. We will see what happens over the next day or two."

When asked if other players he was looking at were experienced, McPake replied: "If I could pick the perfect player then it would be an experienced internationalist that has played 500 games.

"I don’t know if he has played 500 games, but that’s what Queen’s Park got when Danny Wilson went there. There are pros and cons for everything we do.

"I think we need a bit of experience in there with Benedictus being out for so long. I think you can get away with it for so long but then add in your next most experienced centre back, Sam Fisher, he is out as well. That’s the difficulty there.

"The ones that we are looking at in that position certainly are experienced. You could go and pick a kid up from any of the clubs in the Premier League who could probably come in and be a good player but I don’t know if that kid coming in would be any better than Malachi Fagan-Walcott, Ewan Otto and people like that.

"That is certainly not something that we need in the centre back position. We will wait and see. There are loads of profiles there but not many available just due to where we are in the window.

"I have missed out on plenty players, I have signed plenty players. Chris Kane is a prime example - Queen’s Park were wanting him, but he decided to come here, which we are delighted about. That’s the way football works.

"Had we been in the position where Raith are in the league would we have got the player? I don’t know, it is a decision for him and I never asked him that question. When he told me his decision I wished him good luck and that’s it."