Dunfermline 3 - 0 Aberdeen: Pars give themselves fighting chance - SPL - Scotsman.com Published on Monday 30 April 2012 05:02 Striker Andy Kirk praised manager Jim Jefferies as Dunfermline gave themselves a fighting chance of Clydesdale Bank Premier League survival with a first home win of the season. Kirk struck twice after Joe Cardle's opener as the Pars ended a 12-match winless sequence with an opening East End Park victory of the campaign to keep the battle to avoid relegation ahead of Hibernian alive until at least Wednesday's midweek fixtures. The Pars closed within three points of Hibs, and their weekend win in Fife became even more significant yesterday when their relegation rivals lost 1-0 at St Mirren. They travel to Inverness on Wednesday seeking a fifth away win of the season and back-to-back victories for the first time since August. Jefferies has one win, two draws and two defeats from five matches in charge since succeeding Jim McIntyre as boss. Kirk, who was at Hearts under Jefferies earlier in his career, has played his part, scoring the equaliser in a 4-4 draw at St Mirren before his double in yesterday's 3-0 success. Kirk said: "Jim's vastly experienced and knows the game inside out. He takes no nonsense and demands everything from you. Hopefully he can take us where we're looking to go and fingers crossed that wee bit of luck that we haven't had all year is starting to come for us. The Pars have met Caley Thistle five times this season, with three SPL matches drawn and Inverness winning in the fourth round of the William Hill Scottish Cup only after an extra-time replay win. Kirk maintains belief that the Pars can keep their bid to avoid relegation going at least until the 7 May date with Hibs at Easter Road. "We've had quite a few draws with Inverness this year," he said. We've been a wee bit unfortunate and hopefully the luck's on our side and we can go and put in another performance, keep another clean sheet, get a couple of goals and keep the pressure on. They're all cup finals. It's been like that for the last three or four weeks. If we can go and put two results back-to-back it gives us a hell of a chance to stay in the hunt and stay in this league. While there is optimism at Dunfermline, there is despondency at Aberdeen, who next meet Hibs, their conquerors in the Scottish Cup semi-final. Captain Russell Anderson described the performance of his side as an "absolute shambles" as the Dons slipped four points behind seventh-placed Kilmarnock. Anderson said: "Everyone at the club has got to realise that it's not good enough where we are now. The changing room's very low, the manager [Craig Brown] is gutted, the players are gutted, but it doesn't change the fact it's been another disappointing season and I think the second half summed it up. It just goes to show how much of a big job the manager's going to have in the summer.