Dunfermline 1 Livingston 0
Tuesday, 30th Dec 2008IRN BRU First Division
Jim McIntyre was delighted to have this postponed match from Saturday re-arranged for Tuesday 30th December. His team showed four changes from the one that drew 4-4 with Clyde on the Saturday before Christmas. Scott Thomson was ill, Rory Loy, Austin McCann and Alex Burke dropped to the bench. In their places in came Scott Wilson, Scott Muirhead, Kevin Harper and Steven Bell. Paul Hegarty`s Livi side saw Gary Miller replace Murray Davidson.
Pre kick off applause for the late George Miller
The match may have gone ahead at the second attempt but tonight`s encounter between second and third certainly took its time producing anything to warm up the 3036 fans brave enough to venture out in the freezing temperature.
Fully quarter of an hour had elapsed before the first real chance fell to either team, with Graham Bayne collecting a botched clearance from a stranded Roddy McKenzie only to match the former Par by miskicking the ball straight back at the stranded goalkeeper.
Nick Phinn came closer a couple of minutes later with a low drive just wide but ultimately it took referee Muir being felled in a collision with Livingston`s strikers to bring some festive cheer to the crowd.
The visitors enjoyed more pressure in the latter stages of the first half with Calum Elliot seeing a shot skid off the bar via a Greg Shields deflection and Joe Hammill coming close with a lob that dropped just onto the top of Paul Gallacher`s net.
Hammill didn`t fair any better when awarded a free kick just outside the box, and neither his shot nor Rocco Quinn`s effort just before the break provided the Pars keeper with any real danger.
Both teams opened the second half looking stronger and the Pars were unlucky not to snatch a lead when Greg Ross lofted a cross to the back post where Steven Bell`s header flew just wide.
Far from spurring the teams into a frantic battle of footballing wits, the game soon exploded into life for the wrong reasons.
After being harried by numerous attempted Pars tackles, Leigh Griffiths was lucky to only pick up a yellow card for lashing out a couple of times at Stephen Glass; a cynical foul by Bell started a minor ruckus in the middle of the park, earning himself and Elliot a booking each; McPake then got in on the act with an equally cynical foul on Phinn.
Among all the tantrums and handbag throwing it was easy to miss the fact that Andy Kirk nearly fired the Pars into the lead but for a terrific block by James McPake.
The Pars were denied the lead again twice around the hour mark with a couple of good efforts from Bayne. Some neat play by Muirhead and Phinn provided the striker with his first opportunity from which he kept his balance well to force McKenzie into tipping the ball over the bar; his second effort a minute later saw a well-struck snapshot blaze just wide of the post.
There was controversy shortly after when substitute Rory Loy picked up a loose ball yards from goal and saw his shot deflected wide by Miller leading to claims that the defender had used his hand to steer the ball wide.
The Pars had barely stopped their protests when, in the 65th minute, a further talking point provided the home team with the lead, and from a most unlikely source. Glass`s low corner saw Greg SHIELDS pop up with a glancing header that looked at first as though it had been stopped on the line however the referee`s assistant had no hesitation in awarding a goal, much to the fury of the Livi back line.
With their initial response of shouting at the officials and picking up a yellow card not entirely effective, the visitors tried the more sensible approach of playing some football and very nearly got an equaliser back just two minutes later. Hammill should have done better when he found himself in space with just Gallacher to beat but the keeper pulled off an important save to send the ball wide of the post.
The Pars almost extended their lead when a quick thinking Loy attempted to deflect Ross`s shot into the net from close range but McKenzie pulled off an excellent save which spurred the visitors on to a sustained period of pressure. They could not make their play count where it mattered however and both Quinn and Hammill failed to threaten when they should have at least forced Gallacher into further action.
In the final five minutes the Pars might have had a chance to extend their lead when Loy appeared to have been fouled Innes inside the box but Referee Alan Muir saw nothing wrong.
Loy was involved again a minute from time when he made a great run across the Livingston half of the pitch before laying the ball off to Bayne, whose shot from the edge of the box curled just around the wrong side of the post.
There was one final scare for the Pars when the visitors were awarded a corner three minutes into injury time but it was well cleared and they were
able to see out the rest of the game. Three points at East End made up a valuable Christmas present that the Pars have been long awaiting and again narrows the gap on leaders St Johnstone.
SUBS NOT USED: Alex Burke, Austin McCann, Callum Reidford (GK)
SCORERS: Shields (65)
YELLOW CARD: Ross, Wilson, Bell, Bayne.
LIVINGSTON: Roddy McKenzie, Dave MacKay, James McPake, Chris Innes, Jason Talbot; Anthony McParland, Gary Miller (Keaghan Jacobs 78), Rocco Quinn, Calum Elliot, Leigh Griffiths, Joe Hamill.
SUBS NOT USED: Cameron MacDonald, Phil Cave, Gordon Smith, Tierri Martini.
YELLOW CARD: Griffiths, Elliot, McPake, McKenzie
REFEREE: Alan Muir
WEATHER:
ATTENDANCE 3036
NEXT MATCH: (home) Homecoming Scottish Cup v Clyde,
Saturday 10th January 2009, kick off 3.00pm
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Preview Livingston
Wednesday, 24th Dec 2008There will be a period of applause prior to this match on Tuesday night in appreciation of George Miller, past player and Manager who sadly died on Friday.
Match has been re-arranged for Tuesday 30th December 2008, kick off 7.45pm.
Saturday 27th December marked the beginning of the third diet of fixtures in this league season but with both Dunfermline and Livingston with games in hand against Ross County and Dundee respectively. It was third v fourth when the Pars met Livingston at East End Park at the end of August. This time its second v third as both teams are locked together on 28 points. There have been 27 league matches between these clubs and Dunfermline are ahead 10-8 on wins. The other nine have been drawn.
|
Pars v Livingston: The Full League Record | ||||||
| P | W | D | L | F | A | |
| At East End Park | 13 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 20 | 18 |
| At Almondvale | 14 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 11 | 14 |
| First Division (since 1975) | 10 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 16 | 12 |
| Premier League (since 1975) | 17 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 15 | 18 |
| TOTALS | 27 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 31 | 32 |
Andy Kirk v Livingston on Saturday 30th August
Earlier this season Livingston left Dunfermline with the three points from a 2-1 victory. On 3rd November 2007, Livingston recorded their heaviest ever defeat over Dunfermline with a four goal win. For Livingston it was their first away win of the season. Usually there is not much between the sides.
|
Milestones | |||
|
Last League Victory# |
3 - 2 |
SPL | |
|
Last League Defeat# |
1 - 2 |
Sc Div 1 | |
|
Best League Victory* |
|
7 - 1 |
Sc Div 2 |
|
Worst League Defeat# |
0 - 4 |
Sc Div 1 | |
|
# As | |||
Dunfermline have managed just four wins in the last twelve meetings between the teams. Livi have won four times, with the other four games being drawn.
Last Twelve League Matches v Livingston | |||
|
Date |
H/A |
F-A |
Scorers |
| 15/11/08 | A | 3-2 | [0-1] McPake, [1-1] Kirk, [2-1] Bayne, [2-2] Elliott, [3-2] Kirk |
| 30/08/08 | H | 1-2 | [0-1] Griffiths, [1-1] Kirk, [1-2] Griffiths |
| 01/03/08 | H | 1-1 | [1-0] Burke, [1-1] Dorrans |
| 02/01/08 | A | 2-0 | [1-0] Hamilton, [2-0] Burchill |
| 03/11/07 | H | 0-4 | [0-1] Craig, [0-2] Craig, [0-3] Tinkler, [0-4] Kennedy |
| 19/08/07 | A | 1-1 | [0-1] Mackay pen. [1-1] O Morrison |
| 22/04/06 | H | 3-2 | [0-1] Brittain, [1-1] Burchill, [1-2] Healy, [2-2] Burchill, [3-2] Burchill |
| 11/02/06 | A | 1-0 | [1-0] Burchill |
| 19/11/05 | H | 0-1 | [0-1] Dalglish |
| 20/08/05 | A | 1-1 | [1-0] Makel, [1-1] Wilson og |
| 30/04/05 | A | 0-2 | [0-1] O`Brien, [0-2] McPake |
| 02/04/05 | A | 1-1 | [0-1] Kachloul, [1-1] Hunt |
Livingston have won more away games than Dunfermline have won home games this league season. With consecutive wins over Ross County and Queen of the South, Livingston have put behind them their embarrassing Homecoming Scottish Cup exit at the hands of East Stirling. That caused the sacking of Roberto Landi.
Andy Kirk scoring the winner at Almondvale this season
| Dunfermline | Livingston |
| Current League Position | |
| 2 | 3 |
| League form: Last Six Games | |
| WLWLWD | WDLLWW |
| League Points | |
| 28 | 28 |
| Goal Difference | |
| +8 | +4 |
| Home/Away Record | |
| P9, W3, D2, L4 | P9, W4, D1, L4 |
Dunfermline shared eight goals with Clyde in their last home game. Their three home wins this season were against Queen of the South, Ross County and Partick Thistle.
Livingston had a phenomenal start to the season with five wins out of five. Since then and their last trip to Fife, the Livi men have won just four out of 12 games. They have however won their last two matches 2-0 against Queen of the South last week and 4-1 at Dingwall the previous week.
| Recent League Form | ||||||
| Dunfermline Home | Livingston Away | |||||
| Clyde | D | 4-4 | Ross County | W | 4-1 | |
| Morton | L | 0-1 | Partick Thistle | L | 1-2 | |
| Dundee | L | 0-1 | Airdrie United | D | 0-0 | |
| St Johnstone | L | 1-2 | Clyde | L | 1-2 | |
| Partick Thistle | W | 1-0 | Queen of the South | L |
1-6 | |
| St Mirren | W | 2-0 | Dundee | W | 3-0 | |
Last Time Out
DUNFERMLINE v Clyde: Paul Gallacher; Calum Woods, Scott Thomson, Greg Shields, Austin McCann (Jim McIntyre 74); Rory Loy (Kevin Harper 64), Nick Phinn, Stephen Glass (c), Alex Burke (Graeme Holmes 64); Graham Bayne, Andy Kirk..
SUBS NOT USED: Callum Reidford, Scott Wilson.
LIVINGSTON v Queen of the South: Roddy McKenzie; Dave Mackay, Chris Innes, James McPake, Jason Talbot; Anthony McParland, Murray Davidson, Rocco Quinn, Leigh Griffiths (Gordon Smith 86), Calum Elliott, Joe Hammill.
SUBS NOT USED: Cameron McDonald, Gary Miller, Keaghan Jacobs, Tierri Martini
Referee for this match will be Alan Muir.
Come on ye Pars!
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