Preview Arbroath
Sunday, 26th Dec 2021cinch Championship: Sunday 26th December 2021 (home) v Arbroath, kick off 3.00pm at East End Park
The Boxing Day fixture brings Dick Campbell’s table topping Arbroath to East End Park. The sides met four times last season, Dunfermline winning three and Arbroath one. This season the clubs have met twice and Arbroath have won both times. The Angus side’s win at East End Park in August was their first there for eight years.
These two clubs have met 103 times and the Fifers have the advantage with 49 wins to Arbroath’s 33 with 21 games drawn.
Milestones Arbroath (home)
Last Victory | 24/04/21 | 4-3 | Championship
Last Defeat | 28/08/21 | 0-3 | Championship
Best Victory | 02/04/32 | 6-0 | Div Two*
Worst Defeat | 12/12/36 | 1-4 | Div One*
Last Goalless Draw | 22/03/86 | Div Two*
First Meeting | 17/04/22 | 5-1 | Div Two*
*Pre league reconstruction
The sides have met 80 times in the league, Dunfermline have won 35, Arbroath 27 and 18 matches have been drawn.
Last time at East End Park
cinch Championship
Dunfermline 0-3 Arbroath
Sat, 28th Aug 2021
This defeat sent Peter Grant’s side to the bottom of the table, a position that they would hold for eleven weeks. The visitors took the lead in 12 minutes when Nicky Low was able to fire a shot from 25 yards out that Deniz Mehmet parried into the centre of his box and McKENNA was first to react to poke the ball home. 0-1
One minute from the interval Todorov headed home from a cross from the right but referee Mike Roncone blew it up for the challenge on keeper Gaston. On resumption play switched to the other end where Scott Stewart cut the ball back from the right byeline for David GOLD to direct into the left corner of the Pars net. 0-2
Midway through the second half Nouble got the better of Watson and McKENNA finished to make it 0-3. Although there was still a quarter of the match remaining but it looked an impossible comeback for the Fifers.
DUNFERMLINE: Deniz Mehmet: Kyle Macdonald, Vytas Gašpuitis, Paul Watson, Josh Edwards: Ryan Dow (Craig Wighton 63), Dan Pybus (Dom Thomas HT), Graham Dorrans (c), Kai Kennedy: Nikolay Todorov (Reece Cole 90+1), Kevin O’Hara.
SUBS NOT USED: Aaron Comrie, Paul Allan, Matty Todd, Owain Fôn Williams (GK).
ARBROATH: Derek Gaston: Scott Stewart (Bobby Linn 75), Ricky Little, Thomas O’Brien (c), Colin Hamilton: David Gold, Liam Henderson (Dale Hilson HT), Nicky Low, Michael McKenna, James Craigen, Joel Nouble (Luke Donnelly 71)
SUBS NOT USED: Anton Dowds, Harrison Clark, Gavin Swankie, Calum Antell (GK).
Twelve Most Recent Meetings
The Fifers have won seven of the last twelve fixtures, Arbroath four including the last two. One game has been drawn.
30/10/21 | Arbroath 4 Dunfermline 2 | Championship
28/08/21 | Dunfermline 0 Arbroath 3 | Championship
24/04/21 | Dunfermline 4 Arbroath 3 | Championship
06/02/21 | Arbroath 2 Dunfermline 0 | Championship
26/12/20 | Dunfermline 1 Arbroath 0 | Championship
28/11/20 | Arbroath 1 Dunfermline 3 | Betfred Cup
04/03/20 | Arbroath 0-0 Dunfermline | Championship
29/10/19 | Dunfermline 2-0 Arbroath | Championship
31/08/19 | Arbroath 1-0 Dunfermline | Championship
15/08/17 | Dunfermline 2-0 Arbroath | Challenge Cup
19/07/16 | Dunfermline 3-0 Arbroath | League Cup
25/07/15 | Arbroath 1-4 Dunfermline | Challenge Cup
Recent Form
Dunfermline have lost three, won two and drawn one of their last six matches. Arbroath have won four and drawn two of their last six games. They sit on top of the Championship and have gone ten matches undefeated with their only away defeat in the Championship this season at Raith in mid October.
Last six matches
DUNFERMLINE
Queen of the South (H) D 3-3
Hamilton Academical (A) L 0-1
Partick Thistle (A) L 0-1
Ayr United (H) W 3-0
Inverness Caledonian Thistle (A) W 2-1
Morton (H) L 1-3
ARBROATH
Morton (H) W 2-1
Partick Thistle (A) W 2-0
Raith Rovers (H) D 0-0
Forfar Athletic (H) W 3-0
Kilmarnock (A) W 1-0
Queen of the South (H) D 1-1
League Record
DUNFERMLINE
League Position: 9th
League Points: 14
Goal Difference: -10
League Record: P17 W3 D7 L5 GF18 GA28
Last Six Match Form: LWWLLD
ARBROATH
League Position: 1st
League Points: 34
Goal Difference: +16
League Record: P18 W9 D7 L2 GF30 GA14
Last Six Match Form: DWWDWW
Last Time out
DUNFERMLINE(v Kilmarnock): Owain Fôn Williams: Aaron Comrie, Mark Connolly, Rhys Breen, Josh Edwards: Matthew Todd, Graham Dorrans (c), Paul Allan, Ryan Dow: Craig Wighton: Lewis McCann
SUBS NOT USED: Ross Graham, Kyle Macdonald, Kevin O’Hara, Kai Kennedy, Nikolay Todorov, Dan Pybus, Deniz Mehmet (GK)
ARBROATH (v Morton): Derek Gaston: Jason Thomson, Ricki Little, Liam Henderson, Colin Hamilton: Chris Hamilton, Scott Stewart, James Craigen, Bobby Linn (Gavin Swankie 89), Joel Nouble, Anton Dowds.
SUBS NOT USED: Nicky Low, Harrison Clark, Rab Douglas GK)
Referee will be Alan Muir whose last match at East End Park was the Fife Derby in October of this year.
Other Championship Fixtures
Ayr United v Raith Rovers
Hamilton Academical v Kilmarnock
Inverness Caledonian Thistle v Partick Thistle
Morton v Queen of the South
Views : 5,990
