Motherwell 2 Dunfermline 1

Saturday, 14th Oct 2006

Crawford scores again but defeat allows Motherwell to leapfrog Dunfermline.

Motherwell impressed with their 5-0 trouncing of Kilmarnock last time out. Maybe that was a good sign since how many times in the past have Dunfermline faced a team seeking their first win since who knows when, and then done their opponents a good turn by letting them break their duck. Not unexpectedly Maurice Malpas started with the same eleven while Jim Leishman made four changes.

In the absence of Dorus de Vries, Roddy McKenzie was back between the sticks after a break of seven matches. Freddie Daquin, Aaron Labonte and Scott Muirhead came into the side with Owen Morrison out injured. Greg Ross and Souleymane Bamba were relegated to the bench.

Dunfermline kicked off attacking the Davie Cooper Stand end but it was Motherwell who were on the attack in the opening minutes, Richie Foran forcing a corner on the left off Labonte and then pegging back the Fifers and keeping the defence under much pressure without really managing to get in a shot.

It was the sixth minute before the visitors succeeded in getting the ball into the home penalty box. Jim Hamilton`s early delivery sending Muirhead scuppering down the left to perfectly flight a cross in that unfortunately did not have such a perfect finish. Daquin took the ball out of defence and he too went on a long run down his side of the park but Jim Paterson ended the foray 18 yards out.

The first real chance for either side was carved out by Scott McDonald in 12 minutes. Leaving Shields in his wake he created room to shoot from the edge of the area and the ball went inches wide of the right post. Next a Craigan cross evaded Foran as he rose on the far side before the Pars won their first, but fruitless, corner of the game.

Labonte looked as though he had cleverly intercepted a pass to Calum Elliot but the Well man forced him square and was awarded a soft free kick as he squeezed between Labonte and Wilson. Brian Kerr sent the 19th minute effort high over the crossbar from 20 yards out.

The match was lacking goalmouth incidents and the next McKenzie saw of action was to peel a McDonald cross off the head of Steven McGarry at the edge of his own six yard box. Motherwell turned up the pressure and on the half hour Mark Reynolds caused Woods to clear off his line when Kerr`s corner from the left was dropped by McKenzie under pressure from Craigan and Elliot was presented with a great chance.

It continued to go the Steelmen`s way with Shields booting away a Foran shot only to see the Irishman return a fine ball that Elliot headed over the bar. Foran tried a longer range shot from the left side but McKenzie was right in line to hold with ease. The Pars keeper then had a good diving save from Elliot after McDonald had released a neat ball to send him in on the right side of the box. Elliot again and Paterson were to get in shots before referee Dougie McDonald blew the half time whistle.

Half Time: Motherwell 0 Dunfermline 0

The game restarted with Dunfermline still in search of their first away goal of the season but unfortunately `Well picked up from where they left off. Some of the home support thought that Scott McDonald had hit the net in 47 minutes with a powered effort from the right side 18 yards out but it was thankfully the outside of the sidenetting that bulged. Two minutes later he did succeed but an offside flag had been raised.

Daquin had a good attempt from a Muirhead corner five minutes into the second half but the home defence came out on top to clear comfortably. Sol Bamba replaced Scott Wilson who was clearly in some discomfort through injury and play continued to be controlled by the home team.

On the hour they got the goal that you had to feel was coming for some time but somewhat controversially. A Jim Paterson corner from the right caused McKenzie to pull off a good save turning the ball round his right hand post with some assistance. The ball came close to crossing the line but maybe not fully so Reynolds sent it back in for Scott McDONALD to cream home as the Pars defence appeared to freeze. The Assistant Referee was on the far side and possibly could not see the position of the ball; the goal stood.

Foran had the ball in the net three minutes later but this time the linesman ruled in the Pars favour adjudging him to be in an offside position as the ball pinged about the Pars box.

Then after 639 minutes of away football this season Dunfermline struck back with a goal. A nice passing movement, keeping the ball on the deck from Daquin to Hamilton played Stevie CRAWFORD through to send the ball into the bottom right of the Motherwell goal. All square with twenty minutes remaining.

For the first time in the match the Fifers tails were up and they were unlucky as Hamilton turned his chance into the hands of keeper Colin Meldrum and then Bamba found himself free to pop a shot from 30 yards out that fell the wrong side of the right post.

As the match slipped into the final ten minutes, two Dunfermline corners brought the travelling support to their feet but Meldrum`s goal was barely threatened. Just when things were looking more promising for Leishman`s troops it all went badly wrong. Substitute David CLARKSON latched on to a through ball that was touched on by McDonald and evaded Greg Shields on the edge of the box before firing passed McKenzie into the bottom right.

Keith Lasley looked like he might have got a third in the 90th minute but McKenzie pulled off a great save but even after the two added minutes the three points were all left in Lanarkshire and Dunfermline sink to 11th place saved from worse only by the inferior goal difference of Craig Brewster`s Dundee United.

MOTHERWELL: Colin Meldrum, Paul Quinn, Stephen Craigan, Mark Reynolds, Jim Paterson: Steven McGarry, Brian Kerr, Keith Lasley, Richie Foran; Calum Elliot (David Clarkson 70), Scott McDonald
SUBS NOT USED: William Kinniburgh, Kevin McBride, Kenny Connolly, Marc Fitzpatrick, Adam Coakley, Graeme Smith (GK)
SCORERS: McDonald (60), Clarkson (84)
YELLOW CARD: Foran (42)

DUNFERMLINE: Roddy McKenzie; Aaron Labonte, Greg Shields (c), Scott Wilson (Souleymane Bamba 56), Calum Woods; Freddie Daquin, Darren Young, Gary Mason, Scott Muirhead (Greg Ross 66); Jim Hamilton, Stevie Crawford
SUBS NOT USED: Jamie McCunnie, Mark Burchill, Iain Williamson, Andy Tod, Greg Paterson (GK)
SCORERS: Crawford (69)
YELLOW CARD: Daquin (26), Hamilton (66), Shields (72)

REFEREE: Dougie McDonald
WEATHER: Sunny Intervals 16°C
ATTENDANCE 4527

NEXT MATCH: SPL (home) v Hibernian, Monday 23rd October 2006 kick off 3.00pm

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Preview Motherwell

Friday, 13th Oct 2006

The last visit to Motherwell brought the Pars first victory there in near enough six years. Same again please!

In 23 Premier League meetings at Fir Park, Dunfermline have managed six wins and six draws.

Premier League v Motherwell (Away)
Pld	W	D	L	F	A
23	6	6	11	28	35

The last visit to Motherwell brought the Pars first victory there in near enough six years.  There was an early set back when Jim Paterson put the home side ahead but a first ever goal from Iain Campbell and further goals from Mark Burchill and Gary Mason put the visitors ahead and despite Stephen Craigan pinning it back to 3-2 with 25 minutes to go Dunfermline hung over for a fine victory.

Milestones Motherwell (Away)
Last League Victory	23/04/06	3-2	SPL
Last League Defeat	06/08/05	0-1	SPL
Best League Victory	14/01/61	4-2	Div One*
Worst League Defeat	01/12/34	1-9	Div One*
*Pre league reconstruction

The last twelve league matches have seen three wins for Dunfermline, five for Motherwell and four draws. 

Last Twelve League Matches v Motherwell
Date	H/A	F-A	Scorers
23/04/06	A	3-2	[0-1] Paterson, [1-1] Campbell, [2-1] Burchill, [3-1] Mason, [3-2] Craigan
28/01/06	H	1-1	[1-0] Darren Young, [1-1] Hamilton
29/10/05	H	0-3	[0-1] Kerr, [0-2] Corrigan,  [0-3] Hamilton
06/08/05	A	0-1	[0-1] Hamilton
02//03/05	H	0-0
27/11/04	A	1-2	[0-1] Kerr [0-2] Corrigan [0-3] Hamilton
11/09/04	H	1-1	[1-0] Brewster, [1-1] McDonald
24/04/04	H	3-0	[1-0] Nicholson, [2-0] Dempsey, [3-0] Derek Young
15/04/04	A	0-1	[0-1] Adams
24/01/04	H	1-0	[1-0] Darren Young
25/11/03	A	2-2	[1-0] Crawford, [2-0] Brewster, [1-2] Pearson, [2-2] Corrigan
05/04/03	H	3-0	[1-0] Hampshire, [2-0] Nicholson, [3-0] Hunt

With their recent home win over Kilmarnock, Motherwell are just one point behind the Fifers. Dunfermline in tenth place have yet to find the net away from home and so far on their travels have managed to pick up just the one point for a 0-0 draw with Dundee United.  The last match at Inverness was not an inspiring performance and against that Motherwell will be cock-a-hoop after netting five last time out.

Motherwell	Dunfermline
Current League Position
12	10
Home/Away Record
P5, W1, D0, L4	P5, W0, D1, L4
Leading Scorers
S McDonald (5)	Darren Young (2)

Neither team have enjoyed the best of starts and both will be looking to change their fortunes in what will be termed a six pointer.

Recent Form
Motherwell Home	W Kilmarnock 5-0	L Hearts  0-1	L Inverness CT 1-4	W Partick Th 3-2	L Aberdeen 0-2
Dunfermline Away	L Inverness CT 0-1	L Celtic 0-1	L Aberdeen 0-1	D Ayr United 0-0	D Dundee Utd 0-0

Motherwell last time out (v Kilmarnock):- Colin Meldrum, Paul Quinn, Stephen Craigan, Jim Paterson, Brian Kerr, Keith Lasley, Mark Reynolds, Steven McGarry, Richie Foran (Marc Fitzpatrick 85), Elliot (David Clarkson 83), Scott McDonald (Ross McCormack 88).
Subs not used: Graeme Smith, William Kinniburgh, Kevin McBride, Kenny Connolly

The Referee will be Dougie McDonald, his first time in charge of a Dunfermline match this season.  Come on ye Pars!

Jim Hamilton Seeks Chance

Questions of Sport With Jim Leishman, Craig Levein, Stevie Crawford and Scott Thomson Saturday 11th November

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