Preview Stranraer
Saturday, 20th Dec 2014In the Pars last home game, Saturday's opponents Stranraer knocked them out
of the William Hill Scottish Cup.
Now after the space of just one league game the two meet again. Dunfermline's 3-1 defeat at Airdrie coupled with Stranraer's 4-1 win at Peterhead means that the Pars now trail their opponents by three points and lie two places behind Steven Aitken's team in fourth place. Managers and players constantly remind us that the season is long and every match is important to win but it would not be great for Dunfermline if the Galloway club can maintain their 16 match unbeaten record in all competitions. History shows that East End Park has not been a happy hunting ground for Stranraer and they have never won a league game there. Dunfermline's best result against Stranraer was in Division Two in April 1958 when a Charlie Dickson hat trick helped the Pars to a 9-1 scoreline. The Pars have won every home league game except the drawn match in November 1983 which was just five games into Jim Leishman's managerial career.
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Milestones v Stranraer (home) |
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Last Victory |
10/05/14 |
3-0 |
League One |
|
Best Victory |
12/04/58 |
9-1 |
Div Two |
Last Defeat |
09/12/14 |
1-3 |
Scottish Cup |
The top of the League One table is very tight but with Dunfermline failing to pick up points on Saturday they dropped five points behind first placed Forfar Athletic. Stranraer are just two off the top and Morton sit third four points off the top. On Saturday Forfar are at home to Airdrieonians while Morton will be at home to Peterhead.
| Dunfermline | Stranraer |
| Current League Position | |
| 4 | 2 |
|
Recent Results |
|
| LWDWLL | WDWDWW |
| League Points | |
| 27 | 30 |
| Goal Difference | |
| +11 | +13 |
| Home / Away Record | |
| P8, W5, D2, L1 | P8, W3, D4, L1 |
The season did not start too clever for Stranraer, they took just four points from their first four league matches and didn't pick up their first three points until September. Since the Petrofac Cup win over Falkirk at the start of September however they are unbeaten. They were denied a Petrofac Final appearances after going out 5-4 on penalties to Livingston. The last team to inflict defeat on Stranraer was Dunfermline on 30th August. Stranraer's form has been impressive and all the more so because they are operating with a very small squad. They have only named four subs in several matches and having avoided injuries this does meet that the consistency of selection has had a good effect on the team's performance.
League Form
| Form last six home / away | ||||||
| Dunfermline (home) | Stranraer (away) | |||||
| Stranraer | L | 1-3 | Peterhead | W | 4-1 | |
| Stirling Albion | W | 4-0 | Dunfermline | W | 3-1 | |
| Morton | L | 1-2 | Stirling Albion | D | 1-1 | |
| Forfar Athletic | D | 0-0 | Peterhead | W | 1-0 | |
| Peterhead | W | 3-0 | Forfar Athletic | D |
1-1 |
|
| Stenhousemuir | W | 2-0 | Brechin City | W |
2-1 |
|
After a gap of 17 years without one game between these two teams this will be the tenth meeting in the last fifteen months. In the nine meetings Stranraer have won three, the Pars five and drawn one.
| Matches v Stranraer 2013-2014 | ||||
| Date | H/A | WDL | F-A | Scorers |
| 09/12/14 | H | L | 1-3 | [0-1] Sean Winter, [0-2] Stephen Stirling, [1-2] Ross Millen pen. [1-3] Jamie Longworth |
| 29/11/14 | A | D | 2-2 | [1-0] Geggan, [2-0] Buchanan, [2-1] Gibson, [2-2] Geggan o.g. |
| 30/08/14 | A | W | 2-1 | [1-0] Ugwu, [1-1] [2-1] Moffat |
| 10/05/14 | H | W | 3-0 | [1-0] Geggan; [2-0] Geggan; [3-0] El Bakhtaoui |
| 07/05/14 | A | L | 1-2 | [0-1] Grehan; [1-1] El Bakhtaoui; [1-2] Bell. |
| 01/03/14 | A | L | 1-3 | [0-1] Grehan pen, [0-2] McKenna, [0-3] McKenna, [1-3] Grainger pen. |
| 11/01/14 | H | W | 3-2 | [0-1] Bell, [1-1] Thomson, [1-2] McKeown, [2-2] Byrne, [3-2] Shankland |
| 26/10/13 | A | W | 2-1 | [0-1] Longworth, [1-1] Husband, [2-1] Falkingham |
| 31/08/13 | H | W | 3-1 | [0-1] Grehan, [1-1] Geggan, [2-1] Johnston, [3-1] Smith. |
Last Time Out
DUNFERMLINE (v Airdrieonians): Ryan Scully; Ross Millen, Gregor Buchanan, Jonathan Page, Alex Whittle; Shaun Byrne (Lewis Spence 65), Josh Falkingham, Andy Geggan (c), Andy Stirling (Chigozie Ugwu HT); Allan Smith (Faissal El Bakhtaoui 65), Michael Moffat.
SUBS NOT USED: Ryan Thomson, Stuart Urquhart, Sorel Chemin, Ryan Goodfellow (GK)
STRANRAER (v Peterhead): David Mitchell; Craig Pettigrew, Scott Rumsby, Frank McKeown, Jackson Longridge, Grant Gallagher, Steven Bell, Chris Aitken, Sean Winter, Craig Malcolm (Anthony Marenghi 78), Stephen Stirling (Jamie Longworth 50).
SUBS NOT USED: Barry Russell, Daniel Tobin (GK).
Referee will be Calum Murray.
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