Christmas, Cups and County

It has been a busy two weeks for Dunfermline - on and off the pitch. Manager Allan Johnston has been working intensely with the players at training ahead of Saturday`s Championship clash with Ross County, while the rest of the town took time out to prepare for the festive season.

With no game last weekend, the Pars fans had a Saturday to recharge the batteries and reflect on a difficult campaign so far. A large crowd gathered in the town centre for an afternoon of events in the build-up to Christmas, with Santa set to arrive in just over 4 weeks!

A "Santa Dash" kicked off a day of activities on the High Street while a Christmas Market was prominent in the Kingsgate Shopping Centre. Kids came out in their droves to see Mr.Claus as the man in the middle turned up at 4:30pm, helped by other local businesses and charities as they walked along the High Street and down towards the Glen Gates.

Cheers erupted for Santa but the adults were doubly excited to see The Voice UK winner, and Fife fire fighter, Stevie McCrorie enter on to the stage alongside local footballing star Caroline Weir. The Manchester City Ladies and Scotland International may light up the page but it was the town centre of Dunfermline which was glistening come 5pm as Kingdom FM helped turn the Christmas Lights on in the town.

While all this fun was happening, the DAFC squad would be training hard at New Central Park, while also keeping an eye on events elsewhere. There were 3 SPFL Ladbrokes Championship fixtures, with Ayr united drawing 0-0 with Greenock Morton; Falkirk and Partick Thistle sharing the spools following a 1-1 stalemate with the game of the day coming in Dumfries, as Queen of the South lost a 3-0 advantage late on to end the 90 minutes with only a point, after a spirited late rally by Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

However, the reason the Pars weren`t playing was down to Ross County`s Irn-Bru Cup involvement; the Staggies won 2-1 against a young Motherwell Colts team at Fir Park. It wasn`t the strongest lineup by the second-tier side, but, it was good enough to eee them secure a spot in the semi-finals of the competition.

Allan Johnston and Sandy Clark wouldn`t have learnt much from last Saturday`s encounter as the Highlanders fought through against Stephen Craigen`s men. Possibly, the biggest note they may have taken is the considerable strength in depth that County have.

Callum Morris and Liam Fontaine, two experienced, regular, campaigners in Stevie Ferguson and Stuart Kettlewell`s team have both been carrying injuries of late and may miss out but that hasn`t detracted from the performances and results in general of the pre-season bookies favourites.

The Dingwall club have lost just once of their last 13 fixtures - in all competitions - winning 8 of those games. Their only defeat in this period came in their previous match in this division , a 1-0 home defeat to Dundee United.

This will be the seventh meeting of these sides; the record stands at 3-2-1... 3 wins to RC, 2 wins for the DA and 1 draw. Athletic will be hoping to level the wins category with a victory at The Global Energy Arena this weekend.

The hosts, relegated from the Premiership last season, won the opening clash of the term between these two teams, beating Dunfermline 3-1 at East End Park. However, a loss in West Fife seems to be a common theme this season, with only 4 points being picked up from a possible 21 on their own patch this term for Dunfermline. Ross County, on the other hand, sit second in the `home form standings` - with 13 points from 6 matches.

But, it is the away form of Johnston`s side which has saw them remain in mid-table: 11 points out of 18 available so far is fairly impressive and begs the question as to why... I guess if the management team knew that answer, we wouldn`t find ourselves in this predicament.

What it does give Pars fans is hope; while, I am positive, those travelling to the game are going with the hope of winning, rather than expecting 3 points from this second-tier tussle. Key Players Sean Murdoch, Mark Durnan, Tom Beadling, Louis Longridge and Aidan Keena have been ruled out, but, AJ has admitted that the squad depth is big enough to deal with those knocks and niggles picked up, and it can`t be used as an excuse.

A win would still keep the visitors in 7th (unless there is a major turnaround in goal difference over QoS), but, it`d put them level on points with the Doonhamers - taking DAFC to within one victory from a Promotion Play-Off place, while it`d take AJ`s troops further away from the relegation zone; they`d go 10 ahead of Falkirk in 10th and eight points clear of second-bottom Partick Thistle.

Let`s hope the joy and entertains seen by locals to the town experienced on Saturday will be similar to that of which the Pars supporters feel come 5pm this weekend. A win may just kick-start the festive season into gear - with a few victories and a bit of momentum top of Allan Johnston`s Christmas list!

COYP ⚽🏁🏆

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