Dunfermline: Craig Wighton’s relishing fan banter at Dundee United

CRAIG WIGHTON has joked that he is braced for pelters from some of his pals when he takes to the pitch for Athletic at Dundee United this weekend.

Dunfermline: Craig Wighton's relishing fan banter at Dundee United | Dunfermline Press

The 26-year-old, a boyhood fan of their near neighbours Dundee, insists he’s looking forward to any stick that comes his way as he attempts to fire Dunfermline to two wins from their opening two Championship fixtures.

Wighton, who is based in the City of Discovery, is one of several Pars players with connections to the opposite side of Tannadice Street, having started his career with the Dees.

Kyle Benedictus and Sam Fisher, who moved permanently to the Pars in the summer following a successful loan from the Dens Park club, have also both previously turned out for the Dark Blue side of Tayside, with goalkeeper, Harry Sharp, recently joining on a temporary deal from them.

Manager, James McPake, and his number two, Dave Mackay, has also turned out for Dundee as players, as well as working together with them as a management team, and could be in for a hot reception on Saturday.

Wighton famously scored the winner in 2016 as Dundee relegated United from the top flight, and even bagged a winner for Arbroath at Tannadice, in February 2020, whilst on loan to the Lichties from Heart of Midlothian.

With plenty of friends on the Tangerine side of the city divide, Wighton expects stick this weekend, but told Press Sport he will use it as motivation to try and help the Pars to achieve a big result.

“My family are big Dundee fans, but a lot of my pals are Dundee United fans, so I’m sure a few of them will be there. It’ll probably be them that’s giving me stick!,” he said.

“I know loads of them. I’ve had plenty of stick over the years, and I can’t see that changing at the weekend!

“I think me and the gaffer will probably get it worse! It’s part of football, I suppose, and I’ve heard it all before.

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“I’m looking forward to it. I actually don’t mind that; I quite like that. It’ll be a good atmosphere and, like I say, I’m sure me and the gaffer will take a bit of pressure off everyone else!

“I played there with Arbroath when I was on loan there from Hearts, we beat them 1-0, and I scored. I was getting plenty of stick that day!

“It pushes you on, and I think you need to use that to your advantage when that’s happening. I’ll look forward to it.”

Whilst he would love to find another winning goal against United, Wighton is aware of how tough a challenge awaits Dunfermline against Jim Goodwin’s side.

Relegated from the Premiership, they underlined their status as title favourites with a resounding 4-0 victory at Arbroath in their opening fixture, netting all of their goals before half-time.

There will be expectation from United’s fans to see their team return to the top flight at the first time of asking, with Wighton acknowledging: “I think that will be the case for them this year.

“I think that’ll be something they’ll need to deal with, that pressure of being expected from their fans to win every week. We’ll try and use that to our advantage.

“Obviously I’ve got a couple of goals against them and good results, so hopefully Saturday will be the same, but it’ll be a completely different test from previous years,” Wighton continued.

“They’ve got a lot of new players, and a new manager, so they’ll be fancying it as well.

“I’m sure they’ll be well prepared. A lot of their players will have played against us over the last couple of years, or whatever it is, in the Championship. I’m sure they’ll be well aware of what we’re good at, so I think they’ll be ready for it, and it’s down to who performs on the day.

“We’re confident. We know we can go there and get a result if we work hard and play to our best, so we’ll be looking to go and do that.

“I’m sure we’ll go there and try and frustrate them at times, but we’ve got more than enough quality to go and win the game. We’re confident that, on our day, if we’re at it and play as well as we can, we can beat anyone.

“We’ll approach it like any other game. We’ll have a game plan, we’ll go there, we’ll just do our thing and focus on us.

“We’re going into that full of confidence after winning our first game.

“We know it’ll be a tough game. I think, on paper, everyone will see them as favourites for the league, but we don’t see it like that.

“We’ll take every game as it comes and we know that we can beat anyone on our day if we’re at it, so it’s up to us to go and do that.

“I’m sure the manager will have us well prepared and it’s a game we’re looking forward to.”