Dunfermline Athletic 1 - 3 St Johnstone

A tribute to Stuart Adamson was unveiled before kick-off but it is the Pars who are hitting the skids after yet another uninspiring home performance.

David Graham in action

If you were fit (more or less) you were in the squad. Nipper Thomson and Jamie Mole weren’t, but Phinn had recovered sufficiently from his ankle injury to start, and Austin McCann and Paul Willis made it as far as the bench. Thus we had Gallacher in goals, a back 4 of Woods, Wilson, Shields and Muirhead; David Graham was on the right of midfield, with Bell in the middle, along with one or sometimes both of Burke and Phinn, and Bayne and Kirk were up front. Saints also made a couple of changes, incorporating Martin Hardie and Gavin Swankie in less offensive line-up, at the expense of Moon and Sheerin.

The Pars made an enterprising start – in the third minute Wilson picked out Woods with a long pass down the right, and Graham beat 2 players but his cross was just behind Kirk and he couldn’t control his header, and a minute later Bell charged down Hardie’s clearance, and found Kirk but Bayne couldn’t get on the end of the Northern Irishman’s pass across goal. Meanwhile Scott Muirhead became the latest casualty sustaining a thigh injury and although he hobbled on for a bit, he was soon forced to give way to Austin McCann.

A lapse in concentration nearly cost Dunfermline dear in 11 minutes, Wilson taking his eye off a quickly taking goal kick, allowing Milne to feed the completely unmarked Samuel, but Wilson got across to put off the former Bairn who fired past. However, the goal was not delayed for long. Woods conceded a corner by heading over a dangerous Gavin Swankie cross. Craig in-swung the ball with his left foot, there was a flick-on to beyond the far post, Gartland headed back in and with the Pars defence in another fine mess the unmarked Hardie bundled it home. 1-0 Saints.

The Pars weren’t playing, or weren’t allowed to play much of the neat passing that had featured recently, instead opting for long balls forward more often than not. In 28 minutes Woods launched one up the line, Kirk did well to control it near the corner flag, then promptly slipped, tried to regain his balance, then fell flat on his face, the ball dribbling out for a goal kick. That pretty much summed up the Pars performance up to that point, when suddenly on the half hour they were presented with a gilt-edged chance to equalise. Kirk ran on to another long ball, managed to get it under control, and tried to wriggle through the 3 players in attendance. Gartland fouled, and referee O’Reilly pointed to the spot. Gartland was booked, a red card was a possibility, but given the number of defenders in attendance classifying the incident as a clear goal-scoring opportunity would have been harsh.

Kirk took the kick himself, and stuck it away comfortably to Alan Main’s left, the keeper, setting a new appearance record for Saints, moving the other way. One each.
The Pars seemed to perk up a little after this, Gartland seemed to stand on the ball under pressure from Bell, lost possession and Kirk fired past in 34 minutes, before the home team came under pressure in 39 minutes. One criticism of Paul Gallacher is that he doesn’t command his area, and he appeared rooted to the spot as Shields gave away a corner with a back-header. However, the keeper redeemed himself by comfortably taking the corner from the Saints’ left.

If the home fans were thinking they would be on at least equal terms at the break they were sadly mistaken, as Saints took the lead with a terrific goal. A little bit of slackness ceded possession to the opposition and right back Gary Irvine ran across the edge of the area, looking to get in a shot on his left foot, à la Woods. Calum himself was stopping this, so Irvine simply checked, moved onto his right foot, and sent a delightful chip into the top right hand corner giving Gallacher no chance. 2-1 Saints. Gary’s first ever senior goal, apparently, and he’ll do well to better it.
St Johnstone were keen for a third, Wilson again being caught dozing, but he and Shields got back to thwart Samuel, and McCann grabbed Swankie’s shirt to stop him progressing into dangerous territory after being undone by a neat flick.
Half-time: Pars 1 Saints 2.