Preview Falkirk
Wednesday, 4th May 2011A fond farewell as the First Division Champions 2010-2011 welcome Falkirk to East End Park.
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Admission: from £16 and £10 for concessions |
Police urge fans to stay off the pitch
Dunfermline`s last SPL match was against Falkirk in the final match of the 2006-07 season. How fitting then that it is Falkirk who will be the opposition as the Fifers take their leave of the First Division after a four year absence from the top flight. However, the Pars have one statistic that needs updated since they have not taken full league points at home against Falkirk since Derek Laing`s winner on 9th October 1993. That was nine league visits back but of course Dunfermline did beat Falkirk 2-0 in the League Cup in October 2002 courtesy of a Stevie Crawford double. The Pars have the upper hand in league meetings at East End, but only just.
| Dunfermline v Falkirk: The Full League Record | ||||||
| P | W | D | L | F | A | |
| At East End Park | 42 | 16 | 11 | 15 | 58 | 55 |
| At Brockville | 36 | 10 | 7 | 19 | 39 | 60 |
| At Falkirk Stadium | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 4 |
| Division One (up to 1975) | 36 | 20 | 2 | 14 | 65 | 49 |
| Division Two (up to 1975) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 11 |
| Premier League (since 1975) | 9 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 11 |
| First Division (since 1975) | 25 | 5 | 10 | 10 | 26 | 34 |
| Second Division (since 1975) | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 7 |
| TOTALS | 84 | 29 | 19 | 36 | 102 | 119 |
Another local derby but this one is going to have a totally different atmosphere with the First Division trophy to be presented at the end of the match. Since 2005 there have been only three Dunfermline wins in the eleven league meetings and five of the games have been defeats.
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League Matches v Falkirk since 2005 | |||
| 12/03/11 | A | 2-1 | W |
| 15/02/11 | H | 1-1 | D |
| 07/08/10 | A | 1-0 | W |
| 19/05/07 | H | 0-3 | L |
| 13/01/07 | A | 0-1 | L |
| 04/11/06 | H | 0-3 | L |
| 05/08/06 | A | 0-1 | L |
| 14/04/06 | A | 0-0 | D |
| 01/04/06 | H | 1-1 | D |
| 31/12/05 | A | 2-1 | W |
| 15/10/05 | H | 0-1 | L |
The Pars 1-0 win at the Falkirk Stadium on the opening day of the season came from a Pat Clarke goal. In March goals from Calum Woods and Martin Hardie paved the way for a fine 2-1 at the Falkirk Stadium second time around and the previous meeting at East End Park ended all square at 1-1.
| Dunfermline | Falkirk |
| Current League Position | |
| 1 | 3 |
| League Points | |
| 67 | 58 |
| Goal Difference | |
| +32 | +19 |
| Last 6-Match League Form | |
| DWWWWW | LWWWWL |
| Home/Away Record | |
| P17, W10, D6, L1 | P17, W8, D4, L5 |
It`s their home form that has let Falkirk down - six defeats in 18 games - but Steven Pressley`s side has got their away form going in 2011. After losing three consecutive matches on the road in the autumn at Partick, Raith and Dundee and then in cup competitions away at Aberdeen and Firhill the Bairns have lost just one away game since January. That defeat was against Ross County on 5th March and the Staggies have cost them dearly after taking nine points off Falkirk this season.
| Form last six home / away | ||||||
| Dunfermline (home) | Falkirk (away) | |||||
| Raith Rovers | W | Stirling Albion | W | 2-1 | ||
| Queen of the South | W | Cowdenbeath | W | 2-1 | ||
| Partick Thistle | D | 0-0 | Partick Thistle | W |
2-1 | |
| Stirling Albion | W | 4-1 | Morton | D |
2-2 | |
| Ross County | D | 1-1 | Cowdenbeath | D | 0-0 | |
| Morton | L | 1-3 | Queen of the South | W | 1-0 | |
The First Division champions have won their last five league games but at home the Pars have won just three league games from a possible eight in 2011. Morton are the only side to leave with all three points and of course the most recent home game was the crucial 2-1 win over Raith Rovers.
Last Time Out
DUNFERMLINE (v Morton): Chris Smith; Calum Woods (Nick Phinn 75), Kevin Rutkiewicz, Alex Keddie, Austin McCann (c); David Graham, Gary Mason, Andy Dowie, Joe Cardle (Liam Buchanan 83); Steven McDougall (Pat Clarke 64), Andy Kirk.,
SUBS NOT USED: Chris Higgins Greg Paterson (GK).
FALKIRK (v Ross County); Robert Olejnik, Brian McLean (Chris Mitchell 82), Mark Twaddle, Thomas Scobbie; Keiran Duffy, Stewart Murdoch (Carl Finnigan 55), Ryan Flynn (Blair Alston 73), Mark Stewart, Marc Millar, Kallum Higginbotham, Tam McManus
SUBS NOT USED: Stephen Kingsley, Jamie Barclay (GK)
Referee for this match will be Steve Conroy.
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