Dunfermline are still searching for their first home win of the season. There chances of securing that on Saturday were dealt a blow when first-choice goalkeeper Paul Gallacher was added to the list of Pars absentees after suffering a suspected dislocated shoulder. This was inflicted when Rudi Skacel landed on him after scoring the final goal in Hearts' 4-0 win at Tynecastle last weekend. Chris Smith is ready to step into the breach for Saturday's game with St Johnstone. Dunfermline assistant manager Gerry McCabe, though, was focusing on the positives, with Craig Easton and Paddy Boyle available again and Joe Cardle, Paul Burns, and Martin Hardie returning to full fitness following recent injuries. McCabe said: "Paul's struggling a wee bit. He'll certainly miss this week. Hopefully it's just more bruising than anything else, but we'll have to wait for the results of the scan. We need everybody on board as much as we possibly can at the moment. There are still one or two out, but things are looking much healthier this week than last week and a couple of weeks ago." Dunfermline have garnered just four points from their eight home games so far this season and host Saints in their final East End Park fixture of the calendar year determined to gather all three on offer. The Pars were held by Aberdeen last month despite leading 3-1 entering the final 10 minutes of play, while Saints travel on the back of three straight losses. McCabe added: "We've not won a home game all season and there's no better time to try and get a result than Saturday. We had a great chance against Aberdeen, we know that. But we know we've got the players to make chances. If we can just keep things tight at the back we have a chance of winning the game. They're on a bit of a sticky run just now but St Johnstone are a good side with good players." McCabe hopes Dunfermline can avoid the foot of the table for Christmas, but is not too concerned about the situation just yet. He went on: "We're not detached and we'll try to keep in the mix. It's going to be very tight, but right now nobody's looking like they could get on a run. We certainly feel we're good enough to get out of the situation we're in and one or two results change everything."
Source: FOOTYMAD
