‘Dunfermline a bigger test than St Mirren’ says Edinburgh City’s Callum Crane

Edinburgh City defender Callum Crane expects Championship side Dunfermline to pose a bigger threat than the one encountered against Premiership outfit St Mirren.
Callum Crane made his Edinburgh City debut against St Mirren on Wednesday. Pic: SNSCallum Crane made his Edinburgh City debut against St Mirren on Wednesday. Pic: SNS
Callum Crane made his Edinburgh City debut against St Mirren on Wednesday. Pic: SNS

The free-scoring Pars are the visitors to Ainslie Park tomorrow in what is the club’s second match of their Betfred Cup Group H campaign following Wednesday night’s 1-0 defeat in Paisley.

Jim Goodwin’s side required an 88th-minute penalty to see off their League Two opponents, Oan Djorkaeff – son of French 1998 World Cup winner Youri – netting from 12 yards after Paul McGinn had been impeded by Craig Thomson.

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But 23-year-old Crane, who joined the Citizens last month from Livingston, says Saints came up short in his estimations and believes the Fifers, who currently top the group with six points, will be a more formidable challenge.

“It’s going to be just as tough as Wednesday night, if not tougher with the way Dunfermline have started the season,” the former Hibs youngster said. “They’ve had two really good results back to back beating St Mirren and then putting six past Albion Rovers, so they’re on fire at the moment. But we’ll go into the match with the same mindset as we had against St Mirren and hopefully come away with a positive result this time round.

“It’s never great to lose a game in the way we did on Wednesday. Conceding a penalty so late on knocks the stuffing out of you, but I thought we did really well. We were very organised and stuck to the game plan so we can take the positives.

“We have to remember we were up against a Premiership team and we restricted them to very little in and around our goal, so hopefully we can take that into the league campaign and be hard to beat.

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“Tomorrow is just our fifth game since the beginning of pre-season so it’s still very early days but it is a cup match and we want to win. It’s all about building things up towards the start of the league against Cove.”

Having found himself left out of the match-day squad most Saturdays under Livi boss Gary Holt, Crane joined Raith Rovers on loan where he made 24 appearances last season. However, he made it clear from the off he was not keen on a return to the Tony Macaroni Arena.

“I’m enjoying it a lot here so far. Last season wasn’t the best for me personally but for the month I’ve been at City, it’s been great,” Crane explained. “The boys have made me feel really welcome. I wanted to move to a club this season where I’d be playing every week and start enjoying my football again.

“I also wanted to go part-time as I’ve now started a new career working for a landscaping company. Edinburgh City just seemed the perfect fit. James [McDonaugh] was really keen on getting me in the door and after a couple of chats, I’d made up my mind. You can never write off going back full time but for now I am just focusing on doing my best for Edinburgh City.

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“The club were so close last year to winning promotion so that is the target again this season. I think we’ve got a really strong squad. When I look at the playing staff when I was on loan at Raith last season, I wouldn’t say there is much difference in terms of quality, if any.”