Preview Falkirk

Ladbrokes Championship: (home) Tuesday 2nd January 2018 v Falkirk 3.00pm kick off at East End Park

The 97th league meeting between Dunfermline and Falkirk provides the New Year derby match at East End Park. There is always plenty of fight when these two come together and with no fewer than five red cards in the three matches between them this season maybe its no surprise that the SPFL have put referee Willie Collum in charge of this one!

Everyone accepts that form goes out the window in derbies but neither side come into the match in scintillating form. Both won last time out but the home side have won just one in eight and the visitors two in ten. So far this season there has been one win apiece and one draw. Falkirk`s last win against Dunfermline was 2-0 in the Irn Bru Cup.

Milestones Falkirk (Home)

Last League Victory | 19/08/17 |2-0| Championship
Last League Defeat | 27/03/13 |1-2| Championship
Best League Victory | 13/04/66 | 6-1| Division 1
Worst League Defeat | 02/01/52 | 0-6 | Division 2

The Pars 3-1 win over Falkirk on 19th August was the first Dunfermline win in 11 tries. Falkirk have won 9 of the last 12 meetings in league and cup.

Last 12 Matches v Falkirk
04/11/17 (A) 1-1 D Championship
05/10/17 (A) 0-2 L Irn Bru Cup
19/08/17 (H) 3-1 W Championship
22/04/17 (H) 1-2 L Championship
04/02/17 (A) 0-2 L Championship
26/12/16 (H) 1-1 D Championship
15/10/16 (A) 1-2 L Championship
19/08/14 (H) 1-2 L Petrofac Cup
27/08/13 (A) 1-2 L League Cup
27/03/13 (H) 0-2 L Division One
16/02/13 (A) 0-1 L Division One
26/12/12 (H) 0-1 L Division One

Last Meeting at East End Park
19th August 2017
Dunfermline 2 Falkirk 0

Dunfermline`s first win over Falkirk since the Championship winning season 2010-2011 came after a clinical start from the Pars. A bizarre second half where Falkirk were reduced to nine men. Then a celebratory finish as Joe Cardle nailed a very popular home win.

A through ball from the edge of the centre circle was perfectly weighted for Declan McMANUS to evade the offside trap and coolly net low into the bottom right corner. 1-0 and less than five minutes gone.

Six minutes after opening the scoring the Pars made it 2-0. It was a slick move from Smith in the middle, out to Williamson on the right and then centred for CARDLE to stick away.

The contest might have appeared to have ended when Falkirk went down to nine players but the Fifers did not play well when their opponents were two men short. The nine men hit on the break and in 83 minutes got a goal back to make it a potentially frantic final seven minutes. The ever dangerous Tony Gallacher got forward and crashed a shot that was kept out by the right goalpost. The rebound fell to TAIWO who lashed it in the top left corner 2-1.

In the third minute of added time CARDLE latched on to a pass from Andy Ryan, netted his second of the day.

DUNFERMLINE: Sean Murdoch: Ryan Williamson, Callum Morris (c) Lee Ashcroft, Jason Talbot: Kallum Higginbotham (Fraser Aird 73), Nat Wedderburn, Dean Shiels, Joe Cardle: Declan McManus (David Hopkirk 67), Callum Smith (Andy Ryan 67).
SUBS NOT USED: Lewis Martin, Aaron Splaine, Michael Paton, Cammy Gill (GK)

FALKIRK: Robbie Thomson: Aaron Muirhead (Peter Grant HT), Paul Watson, Luca Gasparotto, Tony Gallagher: Tom Taiwo, Joe McKee, Mark Kerr (c), Craig Sibbald: Nathan Austin (Lee Miller HT), Kevin O`Hara (Alex Harris 81)
SUBS NOT USED: Scott Shepherd, Cameron Blues, James Craigen, David Mitchell(GK).

Form last six matches

DUNFERMLINE
Brechin City (H) W 2-1
St Mirren (A) L 0-1
Queen of the South (H) L 2-5
Dundee United (A) L 1-2
Dumbarton (H) D 2-2
Morton (H) D 1-1

FALKIRK
Queen of the South (A) W 3-2
Dumbarton (A) D 0-0
Livingston (A) D 0-0
Morton (H) L 0-3
Dundee United (A) L 0-3
Inverness Caley Thistle (A) L 0-1

Falkirk`s 3-2 home win over Queen of the South on Saturday was just their second league victory of the season. Prior to that they had been winless in the league since 30th September. That was the occasion of the Bairns first league win of the 2017-2018 season, a win under the stewardship of caretaker manager Alex Smith. Following that 1-0 win at Cappielow Falkirk went eight league matches without a win.

Recent Form

DUNFERMLINE
League Position: 3rd
League Points: 26
League Record: P18 W7 D5 L6 GF34 GA24
Goal Difference: +10
Last Six League Match Form: DDLLLW

FALKIRK
League Position: 9th
League Points: 14
League Record: P17 W2 D8 L7 GF12 GA27
Goal Difference: -15
Last Six League Match Form: DLLDDW

Last Time Out

DUNFERMLINE (v Brechin City): Sean Murdoch: Ryan Williamson, Callum Morris (c), Lee Ashcroft, Jason Talbot: Michael Paton, Nat Wedderburn, Dean Shiels (Kallum Higginbotham 77), Joe Cardle (Fraser Aird 77): Nicky Clark, Declan McManus (Andy Ryan 79).
SUBS NOT USED: Lewis Martin, Callum Smith, Jean-Yves M`Voto, Cammy Gill (GK)

FALKIRK (v Queen of the South): Robbie Mutch: Lewis Kidd, Aaron Muirhead, Paul Watson, Peter Grant, Reghan Tumilty, Tom Taino, Craig Sibbald, Jordan McGhee, Myles Hippolyte (Alex Harris 53), Louis Longridge.
SUBS NOT USED: Cameron Blues, Reis Peggie, Jonny Mitchell, James Craigen, Cieran Dunne, Robbie Thomson (GK)

Callum Morris is suspended for Dunfermline and for Falkirk Kevin O`Hara and Joe McKee are still serving suspensions.

Referee will be Willie Collum.

Other Championship Fixtures
Dundee United v Brechin City
Inverness Caley Thistle v Livingston
Morton v St Mirren
Queen of the South v Dumbarton

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