Dunfermline 0 Motherwell 2

Tuesday, 26th Dec 2006

No Merry Christmas as Pars lose out on points to Motherwell on Boxing Day.

Without the suspended Stevie Crawford Dunfermline welcomed back Mark Burchill. Freddie Daquin was preferred to Greg Ross in the only other change made by Stephen Kenny. Motherwell too, had men out suspended. Jim Paterson and David Clarkson were not available so Paul Quinn came into the starting line up in an otherwise unchanged team from the one that took three points at Rugby Park three days before.

Gary Mason and Jim Hamilton kicked off for the home side attacking the goal in front of the empty East Stand. After just 40 seconds a Sol Bamba shot high into that stand bringing cheers from the home support and those were even greater in the third minute when Scott Muirhead`s break down the left led to a cross that Freddie Daquin directed on target from an acute angle on the right only to be stopped by the feet of Motherwell keeper Graeme Smith.

Daquin rounded Quinn in 11th minute and centred a good ball into the Well six yard box but with no takers. Bamba gathered the clearance however and laced the ball left for Mason to run on to in the left side of the opposition penalty box. His delivery was destined for Greg Shields head until a Motherwell head intercepted. The follow up came from Burchill and his effort from 20 yards rattled the crossbar. No goal but East End Park roared like it had never before this season.

Just four minutes later in 16 minutes, Phil McGuire got a glancng header onto a corner from the left but Martyn Corrigan blocked and Jim Hamilton popped a shot but was off target. It was looking rosy for the Pars and even when Marc Fitzpatrick threatened to walk through the centre of the Fifers defence a strong tackle from Scott Wilson set up Darren Young to break and then feed Scott Muirhead. Graeme Smith had to dive bravely at the feet of Burchill as Muirhead drove a low ball into the six yard area.

Mark Burchill was yellow carded for apparently telling referee Mike Ritchie for protesting too much for not receiving a penalty decision in 25th minute when theball appeared to come off Darren Smith`s hand. Then completely against the run of play Motherwell took the lead. Only one long range shot from on loan striker Callum Elliott had been anywhere near de Vries` goal until in a simple move Quinn placed the ball at the feet of Marc FITZPATRICK and he slipped the ball past de Vries from the left side of the box just ten yards out.

Even more almost went wrong three minutes later but when Smith was clean through de Vries came out to pull off a fine save. The home supporters euphoria of the opening twenty minutes began to subside as the effects of their pre match tipples wore off in tandem with the pressure from the Pars attack.

Mark Burchill restored the hopes with a 35th minute shot that narrowly cleared the crossbar and landed on the roof of the net. Not much came the Pars way again until the final minute of the half when a neat forward pass from Bamba put Shields in on the right side of the box but his well cut back cross was easily defended.

Owen Morrison made way for Freddie Daquin just before the interval as the Frenchman limped off with what looked like a hamstring problem.

Half Time: Dunfermline 0 Motherwell 1

The home fans were back off their seats after only 85 seconds of the second half as Burchill`s advances into the `Well penalty box produced a low shot that seem directed to slip in bottom left but instead the ball trundled agonisingly wide of the left goalpost.

In 51st minute Young swung in a useful ball from the left but Jim Hamilton headed wide left from ten yards out. Next Morrison put Bamba up the right and the big man delivered with a great cross that put the defence under pressure. Muirhead cut back for Burchill but with the Dunfermline fans roaring in anticipation could only win a corner.

After 58 minutes a Fitzpatrick belter at Motherwell`s first corner of the afternoon was deflected wide off the boot of McGuire and Dunfermline`s defence continued to hold firm as their opponents fell foul of the offside trap. The Pars should have got the equaliser in 64 minutes when a Mason free kick from the left touchline was headed back into the six yard box by Wilson but Scott Muirhead failed to direct his shot on target and so the Steelmen survived.

Five minutes later Greg Ross came on for Bamba, Morrison switched to the left midfield, Muirhead dropped back and Young was pushed up into midfield. A Foran challenge on Mason earned him a yellow card and then Wilson and McGuire quickly saw yellow as well as they took out their growing frustrations on the Motherwell players.

With tensions running high, the visitors did their talking with their feet and in 79 minutes increased their lead as Foran played Scott McDONALD down the left wing. The Aussie cut into the box and evaded the attempts by both Shields and McGuire to prevent him slotting the ball past de Vries from 15 yards.

Any hope of a Pars recovery went out the window with the red carding of Jim Hamilton ten minutes from time for elbowing Stephen Craigan on the edge of the Motherwell penalty box. de Vries saved another from McDonald in 88 minutes but the game petered out with no sign of Dunfermline scoring.

Yet another match with plenty of effort but nothing at all to show for it. Athletic paid dearly for not taking their first half chances and lost the game for the simple reason that they just couldn`t score. That is now 290 SPL minutes without scoring.

With St Mirren beating Falkirk, the closest team is now seven points above Dunfermline - Inverness Caledonian Thistle, who play Rangers on Wednesday night.

DUNFERMLINE: Dorus de Vries; Greg Shields (c), Phil McGuire, Scott Wilson, Darren Young; Freddie Daquin (Owen Morrison 45), Souleymane Bamba (Greg Ross 69), Gary Mason, Scott Muirhead; Jim Hamilton, Mark Burchill
SUBS NOT USED: Scott Morrison, Andy Tod, Calum Woods, Iain Williamson, Roddy McKenzie (GK)
YELLOW CARD: Burchill (25), Wilson (76), McGuire (77)
RED CARD: Hamilton (80)

MOTHERWELL: Graeme Smith; Martyn Corrigan, Stephen Craigan, Mark Reynolds, Paul Quinn; Brian Kerr, Darren Lee Smith (Steven McGarry 59), Marc Fitzpatrick, Richie Foran, Scott McDonald, Calum Elliot
SUBS NOT USED: William Kinniburgh, Paul Quinn, Kenny Connolly, Kevin McBride, Bobby Donnelly, Colin Meldrum (GK)
SCORERS: Fitzpatrick (26), McDonald (79)
YELLOW CARD: Foran (74)

REFEREE: Mike Ritchie
WEATHER: Dry Cool 6°C
ATTENDANCE 4686

NEXT MATCH: (away) v Hibernian Saturday 30th December 2006, kick off 3.00pm

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Preview Motherwell

Sunday, 24th Dec 2006

Should either team take the full points from this match with it will come a bucketful of confidence.

Student Concessions
Matriculation Card or Job Seekers Allowance Book must be produced.

Matches between the two can usually go either way but the Pars have not beaten Motherwell at East End Park since Jimmy Calderwood left. After 26 Premier League games at East End Park Dunfermline have the most slender of advantages over Motherwell.

Premier League v Motherwell (Home)
Pld	W	D	L	F	A
26	9	9	8	38	37

This will be the 96th league meeting of these clubs. The last match at East End Park in January 2006 was drawn 1-1; the previous meeting this season at Fir Park was a 2-1 win for the home team.

Milestones Motherwell (Home)
Last League Victory#	24/04/04	3 - 0	SPL
Last League Defeat#	26/10/05	0 - 3	SPL
Best League Victory*	19/08/59	6 - 0	Div One*
Worst League Defeat*	24/09/60	1 - 6	Div One*
* Pre Reconstruction

Action from the SPL match earlier this season at Fir Park

The last twelve league meetings have seen Dunfermline win three times, Motherwell five with four matches drawn.

Last Twelve League Matches v Motherwell
Date	H/A	F-A	Scorers
14/10/06	A	1-2	[0-1] McDonald, [1-1] Crawford, [1-2] Clarkson
23/04/06	A	3-2	0-1] Paterson, [1-1] Campbell [2--1], Burchill [-1]; , Mason,  [3-2] Craigan
28/01/06	H	1-1	[1-0] Young, [1-1] Hamilton [1-1]
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]Tod og, [[0-2] Foran, [1-2] Tod
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 (p)
24/01/04	H	1-0	[1-0] Derek Young
25/11/03	A	2-2	[1-0] Crawford, [2-0] Brewster, [1-2] Pearson, [2-2] Corrigan

The match against eleventh placed Motherwell is of extreme importance. A veritable six pointer and possibly more crucial in terms of belief building. Should any team take the full points from this match with it will come a bucketful of confidence that relegation will not be on the agenda come the end of the season.

Dunfermline	Motherwell
Current League Position
12	10
Last 6-Match Form
WLLLDD	LWWLLW
Home/Away Record
P10, W3, D2, L5	P10, W3, D2, L5
Leading Scorers
S Crawford (4)	S McDonald (8)

Motherwell face their fourth away game in their last five SPL matches. They will be keen to take something away from Dunfermline so that it prevents the Pars closing in on them and also because, although their next two SPL matches are at home they are against Celtic and then Rangers.

Recent Form
Dunfermline Home	D Inverness CT 1-1	L Celtic 0-2	L Aberdeen 0-3	W Dundee United 2-1	L Falkirk 0-3
Motherwell Away	L Kilmarnock 0-3	L Hearts 1-4	W Inverness CT 0-1	L Aberdeen 1-2	L Kilmarnock 2-3

Last Time Out

DUNFERMLINE (v Inverness Caley Thistle): Dorus de Vries; Greg Shields (c), Phil McGuire, Scott Wilson, Darren Young; Greg Ross (Freddie Daquin 60), Souleymane Bamba, Gary Mason, Scott Muirhead (Owen Morrison 67); Jim Hamilton (Andy Tod 90), Stevie Crawford
SUBS: Roddy McKenzie (GK), Scott Morrison, Calum Woods, Iain Williamson
YELLOW CARD: Mason (64), de Vries (64), Wilson (68), Hamilton (72), Crawford (76)
RED CARD: Crawford (77)

MOTHERWELL (v Kilmarnock): Graeme Smith; Martyn Corrigan, Stephen Craigan, Mark Reynolds, Jim Paterson, Brian Kerr, Darren Lee Smith (Steven McGarry 67), Marc Fitzpatrick, Richie Foran, Scott McDonald (David Clarkson 80), Calum Elliot (Kevin McBride 60)
SUBS: Martin, William Kinniburgh, Paul Quinn, Kenny Connolly
YELLOW CARD: Paterson, Foran, McDonald
RED CARD: Paterson (56), Clarkson (92)

Referee on Boxing Day will be the 47 year-old ex Deveronvale player now match official, Mike Ritchie.

C`mon ye Pars!

Ticket Info:- Hibs v Dunfermline 30/12/06

Ticket Info:- Dunfermline v Rangers 07/01/07

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