The only change to the line up was the inclusion of O’Donnell at the cost of moving Quinn to the bench. The restoration of the midfield partnership with Scott Leitch allowed Martyn Corrigan to return to a more comfortable right back slot.
Two up - game over?
Given our recent success rate there was a fair degree of confidence in the home support. But after the first twenty minutes it was clear that the confident mood was not justified. Both teams were punting the ball from end to end and the visitors were having the best of the scraps.
Dunfermline
The visitors proceeded to complete their self destruction by reducing their numbers. Labonte retaliated after a challenge with Clarkson and Mr McCurry produced the red card.
Suddenly we looked favourites, and with our experience from Tynecastle fresh in mind we set about beating ten men for the second week. And we struggled again.
Mehmet seemed to have leveled the score when he was presented with a free shot from ten yards. He was on target with his fierce effort but the ball struck Leitch and was scrambled clear. Corrigane then floated a lovely ball to O’Donnell but his unchallenged header was well wide of the mark.
The highlight of the game was to come just after the hour when some dazzling work by Fitzpatrick produced a lob towards our strikers. Clarkson’s strong header was parried by Stillie and Foran pounced from close in to make the game safe. The Pars had other ideas though, and a minute later they had equalised when Tod got first touch at a corner.
We had to endure a few testing moments when the visitors forced a couple of dangerous set pieces but we hung on.
It is often said that it takes a good team to win on an off day and by that criteria the Mighty ‘Well are on the rise. A word of warning though, we may have to play against eleven players for ninety minutes sometime soon!