Dominant Dunfermline Don`t Receive Final Day Sting

It was Match-Day 36 in the SPFL cinch League One campaign, at the weekend, with Alloa Athletic hosting Champions, Dunfermline Athletic, in the Pars` final swansong in Scotland`s third-tier prior to their promotion to the Championship.

To be fair to both sides, the competitive edge wasn`t there in the first-half, with neither side wanting to get injured: the Wasps have the Promotion Play-Offs to contend with while James McPake`s men are now off on their summer break.

That didn`t stop Murray Miller from the hosts testing Deniz Mehmet early on, but it was a routine stop for the goalie. Craig Wighton was also gifted an opportunity as Cameron O`Donnell misplaced a back-pass but Jay Hogarth was to the rescue to keep the score-line at 0-0 at the interval.

McPake demanded a strong finish to the term, with a commanding 45 minute performance the task for his Champions. As per the majority of the season, the players stood up and were counted as they managed to run out convincing winners in the end. Lewis McCann missed a couple of guilt-edge chances just prior to the opening goal, but he was heavily influential at Wighton`s goal, as he saw his strike too hot to handle for Hogarth, with the ball squirming under his body to the back-post where Wighton tapped home for his 20th strike of the season.

Just four minutes later and Athletic doubled their advantage. A great long pass, by Joe Chalmers, in behind the Wasps` defence set Paul McGowan free as he ran from left to right across the penalty area, before lofting the ball over Hogarth and into the net as the Dundee loanee ended his short stint at KDM Group East End Park in style with his first goal for the Football Club.

Mehmet wasn`t called into any further action as a professional job saw those in Black & White manage the match, which saw the Champions once again prove their qualities by working hard and wearing teams down before grinding out results.

There was plenty chances in the second-half for McPake`s men, but the reality was there was no final day sting in the tail from the Wasps. For Dunfermline Athletic, it is now time to rest and recover before the next challenge begins in a few weeks time, when pre-season will start ahead of Season 2023-2024.

As mentioned earlier in the article, Alloa Athletic would now go into the Promotion Play-Offs after finishing fourth in SPFL cinch League One in Season 2022-2023. They face Hamilton Academical, after John Rankin`s men staved off automatic relegation through having a better goal-difference over Cove Rangers, with Brian Rice`s Clackmannanshire side leading 1-0 in the Semi-Final following the First-Leg this midweek. The Second-Leg will be played on Saturday.

The winner of that Semi-Final will face the winners of Airdrieonians vs Falkirk, as third takes on second of SPFL cinch League One from this term. With 90 minutes of the tie remaining, an emphatic victory for the Diamonds may see ex-Pars Rhys McCabe and Callum Fordyce take one giant leap towards second-tier football if they can see the aggregate score-line remain in their favour come 5pm on Saturday.

It`s going to be a tough ask for John McGlynn`s side, with the Bairns left greeting at the prospect of another season in this division, following their 6-2 humiliation on Tuesday evening.

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