Kilmarnock 5 Dunfermline 1

Saturday, 2nd Dec 2006

Rugby score at Rugby Park. Three down then down to 10, means Pars get slaughtered in East Ayrshire.

Dunfermline made one, enforced, change for the visit to Rugby Park, Stephen Simmons replacing the injured Darren Young and one tactical change with Greg Ross preferred to Aaron Labonte. Kilmarnock had ex Par Colin Nish back in place of the injured Gary Wales and Paul Di Giacomo started in place of Peter Leven.

Pars mascot No.25 Megan Baxter led out the Pars alongside Greg Shields and one had to hope that the real no.25 Stevie Crawford would be leading the play as Dunfermline kicked off attacking the goal at the opposite end from their sparse travelling support.

Kilmarnock took the game to Dunfermline forcing a free kick on the left allowed Killie to exert the early pressure with Gordon Greer advancing further upfield than the Pars would like to see. The visitors were gifted a fifth minute corner when Garry Hay skied his clearance but Owen Morrison`s right footed inswinger from the left was easily held by the red shirted Smith.

It was Kilmarnock`s corner a minute later that created a rather soft opening goal. HAY swung the corner in from the right, the ball slipped over the heads of Greer and his marker, Simmons and the ball ended up in the net possibly off the head of Shields.

Fortunately the Pars struck right back. Scott Morrison was left to cross after Freddie Daquin had made a swift break out of defence up the left. The ex Dons` ball went through Stevie Crawford to Owen Morrison on the right side of the Killie box and his simple squared ball was clinically despatched from seven yards by CRAWFORD for the 11th minute equaliser.

The game did not weary with the Ayrshire side restoring their lead in 19th minute. A fine move from Colin Nish to Garry Hay ripped apart the right side of the Pars defence and when the Killie captain cut the ball back Paul DI GIACOMO had a fairly easy task to bulge the net with his shot from six yards.

The same Killie player, who was starting his first match since 5th August, took advantage of a Nish flick on from a long Smith punt to notch his second goal and Kilmarnock`s third in 25 minutes. DI GIACOMO rifled in a low drive from the angle of the right side of the Pars box. Worse followed just two minutes later.

Scott Wilson fouled Nish out on the left side near the corner flag and when the free kick came over de Vries made a spectacular save to keep the ball out but Colin NISH was at the near post to compound the Pars problems.

After just 30 minutes, at 4-1 down, Manager Steve Kenny made his first substitution introducing Souleymane Bamba in place of Freddie Daquin. The young Ivory Coast man took up an unaccustomed role in midfield with Crawford assuming a position further up the park.

The game began to look finished and half time arrived without further incident although Greg Shields had to be alert to clear a Hay free kick just before the whistle.

Half Time: Kilmarnock 4 Dunfermline 1

Johnston and Naismith got the second half underway and the Pars were soon defending two corners in quick succession. Bamba`s block on Di Giacomo`s shot at the second raised cries of penalty from the partizan support. Scott Wilson then did well to deny Invincible as a fierce cross came into the six yard box from the left.

Some wayward passes instigated chants of "you`re not very good" from the far stand. Matters unquestionably were not good but they got decidedly worse in 57 minutes when Sol Bamba was shown red.

The big man was certainly putting himself about but Referee Alan Freeland reached for his yellow card as the 20 year old went down in a challenge. Bamba walked away from Naismith, complaining to the referee for giving the free kick. Naismith put his hands on Bamba who reacted and pushed back. Captain Hay and Di Giacomo both got involved and the big man merely brushed away all the hands that were being put on him. With the home support reacting savagely Alan Freeland reached for his red card.

Stephen Simmons kept Smith warm with a low driven shot on the hour but Kilmarnock still wanted more of their own. Dunfermline managed to break up what came at them but they were sorely missing the eleventh player. Even with a fair amount of possession at the midway stage Dunfermline could do very little with it.

Another Hay free kick in 72nd minute was directed into the Pars box, Greer`s header returned the ball from the left across the face of the goal and Colin NISH turned the ball in at the right post to make it 5-1.

There might have been more as Jamie Fowler came close at the left post but Hamilton did tee up Muirhead for a flick back into the path of Crawford at the edge of the box but like most things on this dreary December afternoon that just did not go right for the Fifers.

de Vries did well in 86 minutes to prevent Rhian Dodds turning in a Nish pass but by this time the game was well and truly over. Nish had two further opportunities for his hattrick but the final whistle must have been a relief.

KILMARNOCK: Graeme Smith; Gordon Greer, Grant Murray, Frazer Wright, Garry Hay (c); Danny Invincible (Stevie Murray 71), Jamie Fowler, Allan Johnston, Steven Naismith (Peter Leven 77); Colin Nish, Paul Di Giacomo (Rhian Dodds 77)
SUBS NOT USED: Simon Ford, Jamie Adams, Iain Campbell, Alan Combe (GK)
SCORERS: Hay (7), Di Giacomo (19, 25), Nish (27, 72)

DUNFERMLINE: Dorus de Vries; Greg Ross (Jim Hamilton 79), Greg Shields (c), Scott Wilson, Scott Morrison; Owen Morrison (Aaron Labonte 59), Stephen Simmons, Gary Mason, Scott Muirhead;; Frederic Daquin (Souleymane Bamba 30), Stevie Crawford
SUBS NOT USED: Calum Woods, Iain Williamson, Calum Smith, Roddy McKenzie (GK)
SCORERS: Crawford (11)
YELLOW CARD: Ross (52), Mason (81), Labonte (90)
RED CARD: Bamba (57)

REFEREE: John Underhill
WEATHER: Damp, windy 8°C
ATTENDANCE 4750

NEXT MATCH: SPL (home) v Celtic, Sunday 10th December 2006 kick off 2.00pm

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Preview Kilmarnock

Wednesday, 29th Nov 2006

The last time Dunfermline won at Rugby Park in the league was almost fourteen years ago.

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Rugby Park proved a happy hunting ground for once when back in September a famous 4-3 CIS Insurance Cup win but League fortunes have to change one of these days for the Pars record of no wins in 16 SPL matches is there to be taken.

Premier League v Kilmarnock (Away)
Pld	W	D	L	F	A
16	0	7	9	13	27

It would be really nice to change the script away from the last time Dunfermline won at Rugby Park in the league was almost fourteen years ago.  Goals from Leishman`s coaching team Hamish French and Craig Robertson secured the points in a First Division match.  Hamish netted twice and Craig once in the Boxing Day fixture.

Milestones Kilmarnock (Away)
Last League Victory	26/12/92	3-2	1st Div
Last League Defeat	04/03/06	0-1	SPL
Best League Victory	16/11/74	4 -2	Div One*
Worst League Defeat	10/01/76	0-4	1st Div
*Pre league reconstruction

Dunfermline have won just three of the last dozen games between the teams. Kilmarnock have recorded seven victories, and there have been two matches that ended all square.

Last Twelve SPL League Matches v Kilmarnock
Date	H/A	F-A	Scorers
09/09/06	H	3-2	[0-1] Invincible, [1-1] Young,  [1-2] Wales, [2-2] Mason, [3-2] Crawford
04/03/06	A	0-1	[0-1] Invincible
03/12/05	H	0-1	[0-1] Boyd
10/09/05	A	2-3	[1-0] Burchill, [1-1] Dodds, [1-2] Boyd, [2-2] Derek Young, [2-3] Invincible
21/05/05	A	0-4	[0-1] Locke, [0-2] Dodds, [0-3] Boyd, [0-4] McDonald
19/02/05	A	1-2	[0-1] Naismith, [1-1] Christiansen, [1-2] Boyd
20/11/04	H	4-1	[1-0] Nicholson, [2-0] Mehmet, [3-0] Wilson, [3-1] Wales, [4-1] Brewster
29/08/04	A	0-1	[0-1] Invincible
03/04/04	H	2-1	[0-1] Invincible, [1-1] Nicholson, [2-1] Crawford
17/01/04	A	1-1	[0-1] McSwegan (pen), [1-1] Crawford
18/10/03	H	2-3	[0-1] McSwegan, [1-1] Crawford, [2-1] Crawford, [2-2] Shields, [2-3] McSwegan
17/05/03	H	2-2	[1-0] Crawford, [2-0] Mason, [1-2] McDonald, [2-2] Boyd

Kris Boyd was a regular scorer against the Pars so his transfer to Rangers will be a bit of a relief.

Kilmarnock	Dunfermline
Current League Position
6	12
Last 6-Match Form
LLDLWL	LDLLWL
Home/Away Record
P7, W3, D3, L1	P8, W0, D2, L6
Leading Scorers
G Wales (4)	S Crawford (3)

Kilmarnock sit in sixth place with 22 points, ten more than Dunfermline. Only Celtic have defeated Killie at Rugby Park in this season`s SPL and Dunfermline have yet to win away from home in the SPL.

Recent SPL Form
Kilmarnock Home	W Falkirk 2-1	L Celtic 1-2	W Aberdeen 1-0	D Inverness CT 1-1	D Rangers 2-2

Dunfermline Away

L Rangers 0-3

D Hearts 1-1

L Motherwell 1-2

L Inverness CT 0-1

L Celtic 0-1

DUNFERMLINE (last time out v Aberdeen): Dorus de Vries; Aaron Labonte (Stephen Simmons 77), Greg Shields (c), Scott Wilson, Scott Morrison; Owen Morrison, Darren Young (Greg Ross 88), Gary Mason, Scott Muirhead (Jim Hamilton 69); Frederic Daquin, Stevie Crawford
SUBS NOT USED: Greg Paterson (GK), Calum Woods, Souleymane Bamba, Iain Williamson

KILMARNOCK (last time out v Rangers): Graeme Smith; Grant Murray (Stephen Murray 77), Gordon Greer, Frazer Wright, Garry Hay, Danny Invincible, Peter Leven (Paul Di Giacomo 75), Jamie Fowler, Alan Johnson, Gary Wales (Simon Ford 46), Steven Naismith
SUBS NOT USED: Alan Combe, Rhiann Dodds, Ryan O`Leary, Stephen Campbell

Referee for this the 108th league meeting with Kilmarnock will be John Underhill, his first time in charge of a Dunfermline game since officiating in the SPL match v Dundee United on 25th February this year.  For Kilmarnock it will be the second meeting with this whistler this season.  He was the ref in their only defeat v Celtic.  An omen perhaps!

Come on ye Pars!

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