Match Report

Dunfermline Athletic v Stenhousemuir at East End Park, Dunfermline on 19.12.15

Ladbrokes League One                  Att 2,952

Dunfermline Athletic 1[Rooney 77] Stenhousemuir 0

The Warriors made only one change to the starting eleven from last week with Harry Monaghan making his starting debut after playing only one minute in the rest of the season so far. The supporters would have went to East End Park with an element of trepidation as in the previous encounter this season the Fifers had played the Warriors off the park with a 5-0 victory in what was Stenhousemuir’s worst defeat of the season and Dunfermline’s highest victory. This allied to the fact that Stenhousemuir last won in the league at Dunfermline away back in 1954 would not have helped the mood.

Nevertheless these runs have got to stop sometime and Brown Ferguson was keen to break the hoodoo. The Warriors started with a 4-1-4-1 formation with Monaghan sitting in front of the back four. The visitors played with a measured control of the game that Dunfermline found hard to break down. Indeed the first real opportunity of the game came in the 10^th minute when Mark Gilhaney played the ball to Kieran Millar who picked out a Jason Scotland run but he dragged his shot with only the keeper to beat well wide. Two minutes later the striker had to leave the field having pulled his hamstring whilst shooting and he was replaced by Colin McMenamin. The home side were not showing the play of the first meeting but they did create a decent chance in the 21^st minute when Michael Moffat turned Stuart Malcolm but his shot went straight into the midriff of Matt Gould. The first corner for either side was in the 29^th minute and was won by Stenhousemuir but came to nothing. Just after the half hour Josh Falkingham saw a 29 yard free kick flash just wide but the next real chance came at the other end when Millar won the ball before setting up Mark Gilhaney but his effort went just wide amongst a chorus of boos from the home support. Just before half time Joe Cardle replaced Moffat as the Pars tried to freshen things up and they made a further change at half time to try and wrestle the tempo of the game away from Stenhousemuir.

The second half did start better for the Pars with Faissal El Bakhtaoui more prominent with three attempts at goal by the hour. Nevertheless Gould was still to be tested and just as it looked as if David Hopkirk would do so a superb tackle by Stuart Malcolm eventually averted the danger. Hopkirk then had a header skid off the turf and go wide as Dunfermline exerted more pressure.  It wasn’t one way traffic though and from a Stenhousemuir attack Ross Meechan picked out Kieran Millar who did everything right in his efforts to score but was denied by a brilliant save by Sean Murdoch.  That save proved vital as two minutes later Dunfermline took the lead when the subs Ryan Wallace and Shaun Rooney combined with the latter firing a first time shot from 20 yards into the net.

Stenhousemuir responded and Millar was denied once again by Murdoch who saved at the base of the post before Gould made an instinctive save to keep out a Joe Cardle effort. Stenhousemuir kept battling on and Alan Cook and Gilhaney both came close  before the end but despite the efforts of the team Dunfermline through Rooney’s goal were victorious. 

Dunfermline Athletic – Murdoch, Geggan, Talbot, McAusland [Rooney h/t], Richards-Everton, Falkingham [b53], Paton [Wallace 65], Byrne, Moffat [Cardle 41], El Bakhtaoui and Hopkirk. Subs not used – Hutton, Spence, McCabe, Antoine- Curier.

Stenhousemuir – Gould, McCormack [b74], Paterson [b70], Malcolm, Meechan, J.Robertson [Small 82], Gilhaney, Millar, Monaghan, Scotland [McMenamin 12][b76] and Marenghi [Cook 82]. Subs not used – Barclay, Murray, Stirling and Mazana.

Referee – George Salmond          Assistants – Ivan Stankovic and Steven Strang