The performance was much better than the result suggests. We spurned several decent opportunities, and the Pars keeper made three very good saves. In contrast, Dunfermline only had two good chances, both from defensive mistakes.
Whilst the crowd were understandably nervous in the last 15 minutes, the players didn't look panicky in the slightest about only having a one goal lead. Confidence is a wonderful thing.
I think every one of the starting XI can be happy with their performance. It helps that we've hit upon a system that works for us both defensively and in attack. In that spirit, it's only fair that I point out that Baird and Chalmers, two of my early-season whipping boys, did well. Using Baird to run the channels and stay on the shoulder of the last defender is far more effective and that was the best I've seen him play for us. Chalmers has found his niche in midfield, and keeps things ticking over nicely so Vigurs and Polworth can concentrate on creating things.
The three stars were Bell, Vigurs and Donaldson. Bell must have covered every blade of grass and was out on his feet in the last ten minutes. His movement off the ball is great and he's clearly a really intelligent player. Vigurs meanwhile has reinvented himself as a Pirlo-esque playmaker (yes, really!) and I thought the way he controlled our tempo was terrific.
And as for Donaldson...wow. Just, wow. The guy looks a class act, which is astounding given his struggles at Dundee United. Our central defence looks about a million times better for having him, just because his positional sense is so good. Every time a ball came into our box it seemed magnetically attracted to him. Clearly he just needed a change of scenery. We need to sign him on a long contract pronto.
I'm dangerously close to getting optimistic about our season...