Kirk starter to better 17

"Last year was an improvement on the season before and I think we have to look to improve again. We had a bad start to the season last year and hopefully we can put that right this year."

Andy Kirk scored 17 goals for Dunfermline last season - 8 league, 4 Scottish Cup, 4 Co-operative Insurance Cup and one in the Alba Challenge Cup.  He opened his 2010-11 account on the opening day against Arbroath and admitted that he was pleased to find the net after 64 minutes:-

"As a striker you are always pleased to get off the mark as quick as you can.  After getting the first one out of the way and felt I should have had another just a minute before.  To be honest I didn't think I was offside, I would need to see it back but it actually came off one of the defenders heads. The flag was up even before I got to the ball so not to worry I got the next one."

The Aberdeen match on Wednesday appears to have changed Dunfermline's fortunes. Heavy defeats at the hands of Hibs, East Fife and Manchester United XI are now history:-

"The results in pre season have been bad for us to be fair but the game against Aberdeen was a good performance and a good result for us confidence wise.

"We have viewed the videos of the pre season games and I think apart from the East Fife game we have played some decent football. In the Manchester United game they had six attempts on goal throughout the game and scored five. It was just one of those games for us but we are looking to tighten things up. Wednesday night was a good performance from us and we carried it into Saturday."

Given the tightness of the First Division of late the importance of a good start is not missed on the Northern Ireland striker:-

"We need to be a bit more consistent than we were last year.  Last year was an improvement on the season before and I think we have to look to improve again.  We had a bad start to the season last year and hopefully we can put that right this year."

As Dunfermline face the newly relegated side for opening game for the second consecutive season Andy is hoping to form a partnership with the newly signed Pat Clarke:-

"It's a bit different, we are still trying to get accustomed to each other and playing together. Pat is maybe a wee bit behind on fitness compared to the rest of us.  Graham (Bayne) was a totally different striker, Pat likes to make runs in the same way as myself so hopefully in the next two or three weeks we can strike up a good partnership and get the goals.  He was a bit unfortunate with his back heeler and the one that was chalked off. You can see in training that he is a good finisher and he can get us goals."

Next up is a friendly against Kirkie's old team.  He was at Hearts for six seasons from the age of 19 and scored with great regularity during that time. On Tuesday night the Pars striker is keen to measure up against opposition from the SPL:-

"They are on the next level to us so we need to keep performing well, keep doing the right things whether it is a friendly or not. It is another fitness exercise for us and we have to keep the momentum going."

Tickets go on general release today (Monday) for the first league match at the Falkirk Stadium and all the team's preparation is geared towards that.  Andy enjoyed the feeling of getting up on Saturday morning with a match that meant something to play:-

"It's a nice feeling knowing that you have got to get a result.  In pre season the result doesn't matter as long as you play well. On Saturday it was all about getting the result so that is a bit more interesting for us. On Tuesday night it's a game where we have to put on a good performance and then on Saturday we have Arbroath again and it will be another tough test."

24/07/10: Match Report Dunfermline 1 Arbroath 0