Stat was the year that was

Stevie Crawford - “I was unaware of when you put it that way. Hopefully you can come up with a similar stat after 2021!

The year 2021 was welcomed in with hopes of a much happier future ahead. Covid-19 had destroyed lifestyle wrecked businesses and disrupted sport almost everywhere on the planet and all around there was a fairly unanimous goodbye and good riddance to 2020.

Strangely enough the year 2020 was not all bad for Dunfermline Athletic. Yes there was the worry of financial uncertainty and immense disappointment of not being able to complete the 2019-2020 season. This was especially sore since it looked as though the team had a very good chance of making the play offs and an opportunity to win a place in the Premiership.

When Covid-19 caused the early termination of the season, determination of placing by the number of league points per game saw the Pars officially classified as finishing sixth but with the team undefeated in their final four matches there had been much optimism that results in the remaining eight matches could secure them a play off place. We will never know if that would have been the case.

Above: Euan Murray celebrates what was the Pars last goal of the 2019-2020 season

When the 2020-2021 season kicked off it turned out to become the best ever start to a season by a Dunfermline side. The Betfred Cup brought wins over Dumbarton, Falkirk and Kilmarnock before the Championship season began with wins over Inverness, Alloa and Queen of the South.

First points dropped were at Ayr in league match 4 where a goalless draw meant the Pars were displaced as league leaders. But then that was restored with a home win over title favourites Hearts.

The Pars had successfully won the final Betfred Cup group match at home to Clyde to earn seeding in the second round draw which took them to Arbroath. A 3-1 win at Gayfield earned a home tie against St Johnstone in the quarter final. Stevie Crawford’s men pushed the Premiership team all the way to extra time and penalties only to lose in the shoot out.

A 2-2 draw at Raith was followed by the first defeat of the season. In the season’s 12th fixture Morton, habitual spoilers for the Pars, took away a 2-1 win. This ended a 15 match unbeaten run in 2020. “It was going to happen sometime” the manager reluctantly conceded.

A creditable 3-3 draw at Dens Park a home win over Arbroath and a draw at Inverness between Christmas and New Year meant that the Fifers had only lost four matches in 2020.

Indeed with a tally of 31, no Championship side won more points than Dunfermline in 2020. The record was played 19, won 8, drawn 7 and lost 4. 32 league goals were scored, 23 conceded to leave a goal difference of nine. Add in the Betfred performances the goals tally goes to 45 for and 27 against.

Stevie Crawford had been focusing on the current season and as always concentrating on the next game against Raith Rovers but he reacted happily to the information that in 25 matches in 2020 his side had lost only four matches, he said

“I was unaware of when you put it that way. Hopefully you can come up with a similar stat after 2021!

“Don’t underestimate the contribution from everybody around the club. There are a lot of people here who do work behind the scenes. That allows this club to go forward in the right direction.

“I just want to say thanks to everybody that maybe don’t get mentioned as much as others because they are a vital part of where this club wants to go. The respect that I have for everybody that does the unseen stuff here is something that we want to build on as well.

“It has been said many a time now, it is difficult not having the fans here. That is what we all want but the fans are supporting us in numbers when they are tuning in online and things like that.

“We must remain patient and we will see with this second spike in the pandemic that we are having to face now, let’s just make sure that everybody is safe and healthy over the new year. Then we can try and build on what we are already doing at the moment.”

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