Friday Night Under The Lights

The past two Friday`s has saw Dunfermline Athletic play a day before everyone else, with their last two SPFL cinch Championship matches being shown live on BBC Scotland. Their away trip to Greenock Morton was followed up by last weekend`s home contest with Dundee United; with both encounters finishing 2-1 to the away side.

Owen Moffat has been the star of the show, scoring his first 3 senior goals during these two live broadcasts. With two inside the opening 7 minutes at Cappielow, it has the Pars well on their way to victory before the match had really got started.

A spirited fightback from Dougie Imrie`s men in the second-half saw the scoreline reduced to just one goal, but the men from West Fife were able to hold on, thanks to some heroic goalkeeping and defending near the end by Deniz Mehmet and his 10 outfield team-mates.

However, that victory couldn`t be built upon from a results perspective just a week later, when Athletic faced runaway league leaders Dundee United.

Despite battling hard, it was Jim Goodwin`s side that had the advantage at half-time, before James McPake`s men showed their character once again by equalising less than 10 minutes into the second-half.

Moffat`s driving solo run and precise finish gave the hosts hope of taking more points off of the City of Discovery side, following a 1-1 draw at Tannadice earlier on in the campaign. But, there was late drama at KDM Group East End Park, as former DAFC loanee Chris Mochrie shimmied in the box before rifling home the winner with just 5 minutes to go.

It is back to `normal` for this weekend, with a 3pm Saturday kick-off for Dunfermline Athletic, as they face Inverness Caledonian Thistle in one of their two catch-up matches in the SPFL cinch Championship.

A win this weekend would give them clear breathing space over Duncan Ferguson`s men, but a defeat would see the Highlanders strong run under the ex-Everton coach and leapfrog the Pars in the league standings.

This is the second of five successive home games for the Football Club, with November and the beginning of December being a potentially decisive spell within the 2023-2024 term, which could provide an indicator of whether McPake`s side will be battling at the top or at the bottom of the division, come May.

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