By Michael Wood
Dunfermline Athletic 1-1 Partick Thistle
There was no belief emitting through the travelling support when these sides faced off at Firhill in late February. A Pars side depleted by injuries that had not won in nine headed to a side that sat comfortably in third with one of the better home records in the division and unbeaten against the Fifers in Maryhill in the previous six outings.
On the night, however, a couple of decisions unquestionably went in favour of Dunfermline, with one goal debatably chalked off incorrectly for offside and the other blatantly the incorrect call, denying Brian Graham two more on top of his league-leading tally of 17 this season.
That does not forgive how poor Partick were defensively on the evening, or a lot of afternoons for that matter, considering they have the fourth most porous defence in the division, and that leaky nature being the reason they are not in the Premiership due to their 19-minute, three-goal capitulation against Ross County in the play-off final after sweeping past Queen’s Park then Ayr United by a collective aggregate score of 16-3 last year.
In the present, both teams were seeking their fourth successive win – with the league-high being five – it would be Dunfermline’s first such run at this level since February-March 2019 when the club went on and won five on the bounce.
James McPake made two changes to the starting eleven that beat Arbroath three-two, with Miles Welch-Hayes replacing Sam Fisher and Joe Chalmers, who had not started since the 10th of February, replacing the injured Chris Hamilton. McPake’s counterpart Kris Doolan made one change, bringing in former Athletic loanee Kerr McInroy for benched Ben Stanway.
The wind from Storm Kathleen was consistently south-south-westerly and roaring across the field at 30 miles per hour as Calum Scott blew his whistle to start festivities with the hosts kicking towards the Norrie McCathie Stand in the first half.
In the 16th minute, DA captain Kyle Benedictus blocked an effort from Aidan Fitzpatrick, shortly after Welch-Hayes had a goal-line clearance this time from Graham, a bit of redemption for veering out the road of Dylan Easton’s strike at Stark’s Park last month, and Graham was involved in the next notable action of the game when felled by Benedictus, earning himself a booking.
Graham would then find the net at the end of a five-minute period where he was the centre of everything. Scott Robinson’s initial strike was blocked, and it fell to the hulking centre forward, whose shot was also impeded in its progress to goals but still managed to creep over the line due to the pace of the thump.
Dunfermline trudged off the park following a failure to score in the opening half at home for the 10th time this season, and it appeared that the Pars were to be held at bay in the second as the chance of the second period from open play seen Matthew Todd strike the frame with Malachi Fagan-Walcott playing him the midfielder in.
The breakthrough would eventually come as Christoper Kane, who won the penalty after being kicked in the achilles by the aggressive Aaron Muirhead, took it and levelled the scoreline. It was the first spot-kick of the season awarded to the Pars in the league, the last Championship team to do so.
On Tuesday before this matchday, Dunfermline’s next opponents, Airdrieonians, travelled up to a dreich Arbroath in the first of successive midweek fixtures to make up their games in-hand, winning two-one, thanks, in part, to a missed Leighton McIntosh penalty when the match was goalless. That was followed up by a three-one win over fellow Premiership Play-Off chasing Greenock Morton at the same time as this game was played out.
Airdrieonians 2-1 Dunfermline Athletic
Airdrie made a similar trip to Fife just four days prior when visiting Stark’s Park and left convincingly won three-one, meaning the gap between the pair sat at six points coming into this fixture.
Even with that win against promotion pretenders, the Diamonds are poor travellers; their lofty position is thanks to their home form. Ayr United – Rhys McCabe’s bogey team this season – twice, champions-elect Dundee United, Premiership’s best of the rest outside of the Old Firm Heart of Midlothian in the Scottish Cup and Dunfermline are the only clubs to emerge victorious from Excelsior.
Athletic’s two-one win was, arguably, the squad’s most complete away performance of the campaign, soured only by Paul Allan’s late infringement in conceding a penalty, making the scoreline more respectable for Airdrie.
However, last month’s two-nil defeat was a shock for a few reasons: it was only McCabe’s sixth away win against Championship opposition across all competitions, his first time beating his opposite number McPake in seven attempts, and Dunfermline was on a good run of form; unbeaten in four.
Airdrie have had a busy schedule of late, with this being their sixth game in the previous 19 days, the first being the Challenge Cup triumph over The New Saints – their first silverware since lifting the same trophy 15 years ago.
McCabe elected to go with the same starting XI that swept past Raith; McPake made one enforced change from the weekend prior: Lewis McCann coming in for Alex Jakubiak. Andrew Tod, who made his return after 27 weeks out in a reserve league game against Ayr United in March, going on to score the opener in the win, was on the bench for the first time since the trip in Inverness in early September.
Dunfermline encountered winds of 25mph today, as opposed to the stronger gusts felt by Kathleen the Saturday prior; however, a deluge of rain was present in the lead-up and at kick-off, which left the synthetic surface slick to play as Dunfermline were shooting in front of the travelling support.
The Pars’ best opportunities were Kane and McCann headers, but neither came close to threatening Robbie Hemfrey in between the sticks.
After many pot shots from both sides left either goalkeeper untroubled. The first save came nine minutes before the break when Mehmet was equal to his former teammate Gabby McGill. Shortly after Fordyce had an effort turned over the bar with the Turk dealing with the subsequent corner.
An injured Cammy Ballantyne came off for Arron Lyall, and whether that delay meant Dunfermline dozed off or not could perhaps explain why Charlie Telfer and Dean McMaster were allowed to interchange passes between one another from the short corner, making Ritchie-Hosler, the only par to close down the pair, look foolish as McMaster had enough time to rifle one past Mehmet.
McPake, evidently not pleased with what he had seen in the opening period, made two substitutes: Chalmers and Welch-Hayes off in favour of Owen Moffat and Michael O’Halloran, making his first appearance since the defeat to Airdrie last month.
Just after the hour mark, Fagan-Walcott notched in his third goal in a Pars jersey when slotting in from close range as he met Todd’s corner from the right unfettered after evading Todorov at the back post. Sadly, the lead would only last seconds when the hosts made two changes before the restart, with the Bulgarian and Adam Frizzell departing with Lewis McGregor and Gavin Gallagher filling the vacancies.
Again, Dunfermline never switched onto the danger, and a quick free pinballed around an entanglement of legs before being dispatched by a fresh Gallagher.
Tod was a threat when he came on. Alas, it was too little too late as Hemfrey was equal to everything that DA fired at him, and the defeat meant the end of Dunfermline’s top-four hopes, with the Pars needing a point against their next opponents to all but secure Championship survival.
Dunfermline Athletic 0-0 Queen’s Park
The Spiders have proven pesky opposition this season and in recent memory, as this club confined Dunfermline to League One via the play-offs in 2022.
The encounter at Hampden Park was the first league meeting between the pair since 1986, where the win was by no means revenge but symbolic in defining the club as being back in the second tier and being able to compete against a side that was 78 minutes away from winning the Championship when leading Dundee on the final day of last season.
Now, QP is not on the level they were in the previous campaign, however, under League and Scottish Cup winning manager Callum Davidson, they have looked to reprise some of what worked under Owen Coyle, but less so under Robin Veldman.
The Pars have lost their last two meetings with the Mount Florida outfit; the first in January was with a threadbare squad that saw Liam Hoggan and Miller Fenton make their Championship debuts through necessity rather than reward. Ben Summers’ late strike meant two-one flattered the visitors against a side that had not won in 15 league outings.
And there is an argument that the three-nil thudding at East End Park was also a let-off, considering it came seven days after the worst league result the club has had at this level in 17 years.
In the fourth and final meeting between these sides, Ewan Otoo was absent due to a knee injury that would see him miss the remainder of the campaign; he was replaced by Hamilton, with Sam Fisher preferred ahead of Chalmers.
Former Par, Dom Thomas returned for QP, as did Charlie Fox for the absent Danny Wilson and benched Cillian Sheridan, with Davidson preferring Stuart McKinstry and Zach Mauchin over MacKenzie Carse and Jack Turner as the visitors shot into the Norrie McCathie End, backlit in the sunshine on an unusually calm day this year.
While the scene was calm, the game was dire as DA huffed and puffed but could not beat PFA Scotland Championship goalkeeper Callum Ferrie in between the sticks.
Dunfermline could not muster a corner until the 55th minute of the game, and from that set-play, Welch-Hayes’ header struck the bar. It was the best opportunity the Pars would create until the dying moments when Chris Kane, also using his noggin, could not keep it down from close range after Edwards’ long throw made his way to him.
The draw left QP in trouble in ninth with Athletic slipping to sixth after Morton’s win in Arbroath.
Dunfermline Athletic 1-1 Inverness Caledonian Thistle
Going into the final meeting between the pair, nothing had separated the two sides across 270 minutes of football, illustrative of the fact that Inverness are always in a game even though they have faced their struggles.
Only five league games involving the side hailing from the Highland capital were decided by more than one goal – four in the Caley Jags’ favour. Their issue is that they are abysmal at Caledonian Stadium, as they headed into April with as many home points (12) as bottom-of-the-table Arbroath.
Unfortunately for Dunfermline, this game is in Fife, not north of the Tay Bridge, territory where the club is unbeaten this season.
The previous Friday, the Caley Jags were mightily unfortunate not to take at least a point against Raith Rovers, so it made sense that Duncan Ferguson kept changes to a minimum with the injured Aaron Doran out in favour of Sean McAllister and Remi Savage benched for ex-Par Danny Devine.
McPake also made swaps with Paul Allan and Owen Moffat in place of Miles Hayes-Welch and Lewis McCann.
Benedictus headed the opener as Paul Allan’s cross on his weaker foot was powered past Mark Ridgers four minutes before the interval, not what the visitors required with the news from Gayfield that Queen’s Park were leading already relegated Arbroath by three goals to nil and Dunfermline safe as things stood.
Inverness had a great opportunity to get back into the match when Alan Muir adjudged that Moffat handled the ball in the area, however, when Billy McKay stood over the penalty spot, he could only not beat Mehmet between the sticks, who saved his fourth spot-kick in succession and second in consecutive games against the Northern Irishman having kept him at bay in the 0-0 up north in February.
A free kick from Morgan Boyes midway in his half was flicked on by Alex Samuel and Aribim Pepple was there to finish past an onrushing Mehmet. It was an extremely slack goal for Dunfermline to concede, considering how easily the subbed-centre forward skipped past Fagan-Walcott.
Another draw, meaning one home win in five to end the season, but the point was enough to secure Championship status, not that it was in doubt prior to the game with the peculiar set of results that needed to transpire.
Ayr United 3-3 Dunfermline Athletic
On Scott Brown’s managerial return to the city he was born, his side lost two-nil with the Pars more than holding on and not suffering the fate they did the last time Dunfermline visited Ayrshire, when they flew out the traps, lead by a couple of goals within 10 minutes, but still never left Somerset Park with all three points.
Mark McKenzie gave the hosts the lead in the 21st minute, but Dunfermline fired back with a Chris Kane double and a Josh Edwards strike on the stroke of half-time to be two in front ahead of the second period.
Just like the last visit to Ayrshire, however, the Pars would cede the cushion as Lucas McRoberts and Anton Dowds netted a pair in the space of five minutes, with neither side doing enough to emerge victorious.
Even with Greenock Morton’s defeat, Athletic finished sixth – the lowest position a full-time League One champion has finished.
There was a scary moment in the final moments of the game as Mehmet was stretchered off unconscious straight into an ambulance. Thankfully, he was discharged later that night and recuperated at home. His departure meant Max Little finally featured in a league game for the Pars days before his two-year deal expired.
Reserve Cup Final: Livingston 1-2 Dunfermline Athletic
Dunfermline qualified from a group that contained Falkirk, Dundee and Dundee United before seeing off Hamilton Academical in the semi-final, as for Livingston, who finished runners-up to Accies in a group that also contained Hibernian, Queen’s Park and Partick Thistle made their way past Ayr United to make the final.
Nine of the 11 that faced Livi in a two-all draw a few weeks prior in the reserve league started once again with Andrew Tod and Jake Sutherland starting in place of Michael Beagley and Liam Middleton who were both on the bench. Andrew and Jake were joined by their siblings John and Taylor, the oldest outfield player at 18 and captain on the day.
The Pars were the more threatening side in the opening quarter of the game but it was the Lions who would take the lead with their first opportunity. A deep cross from the left was too quick for Jaheim Whyte but Rudi Bryce was following in and slotted past Little.
Athletic would only be behind for five minutes as Conley Adamson knocked the ball up the right towards A.Tod, who turned Sam Culbert with an outrageous piece of skill before hammering a low cross along the box to an open J.Sutherland at the back post.
15 minutes before the end Jake Rennie won a throw on the right and when the ball was wall passed to him, he fired it into the area to a leaping T.Sutherland to head home the winner.
Awards
DAFC Player of the Year and Gary Riddell Players’ Player of the Year: Chris Hamilton.
Management Player of the Year: Josh Edwards.
Management Academy Player of the Year: Ewan McLeod.
Joe Nelson Young Player of the Year: Ewan Otoo.
Goal of the Season: Lewis McCann v Queen’s Park.
Summary
It was a disappointing end to the season, with no win in five to round off the campaign. It certainly was a season of ‘what ifs’ had the team managed not to accumulate so many ailments at once – 21 long-term injuries (four games or more) accounting for 180 missed matches; five seasons worth.
Heartening, however, to see the much debated youth set-up show signs of flourishing with a particularly youthful Dunfermline side lifting the Reserve League Cup.
Transfer news
Alex Jakubiak, Jake Rennie, Max Little, Michael Beagley, Miller Fenton and Paul Allan departed at the end of their contracts, with Chris Kane signing on for two years. It leaves the Pars with 17 first-team players heading into the next season, although the expectation that Josh Edwards will be sold as he enters the 12 months of his deal.
What next
Dunfermline will welcome back the rivalry with Falkirk at the second tier level for the first time in five years, after they won promotion along with Hamilton Academical at the expense of Arbroath and Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
Dundee United’s spot in the league was taken up by Livingston after a six-year stint in the top-flight.
In the League Cup, Athletic drew Livi, Cove Rangers, Spartans and Forfar Athletic, with the competitive season kicking off on 15th of July.
But first and foremost will be using the off-season to make those three-to-five signings to fill out the squad with the expectation the apprentices of Ewen McLeod, Liam Hoggan and Jake Sutherland will be loaned out at some point during the campaign.
(Photo credit: Craig Brown – DAFC.co.uk)
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