The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
‘Shocking’ Pars must do better, says Murdoch
DUNFERMLINE: Keeper says no player was good enough in first half
Sean Murdoch says Dunfermline have no chance of realising their Premiership aspirations if their “terrible” first-half display at Livingston is a sign of things to come.
Optimism abounded at East End Park ahead of the Championship season after a fine Betfred Cup campaign, which saw the Pars top a group including Hearts.
However, they were fortunate to escape the Lions’ den with a point.
A contentious Kallum Higginbotham penalty was converted after Joe Cardle had gone to ground under a challenge from Livi’s Alan Lithgow.
That cancelled out Scott Pittman’s opener for the hosts, while a heroic lastgasp spot-kick save by Murdoch stopped Danny Mullen claiming victory.
The Dunfermline number one said: “They started like a house on fire and we couldn’t cope, we were terrible.
The manager had some strong words at half-time, and rightly so. We were shocking.
“Not a single player can say they were good enough.
“We improved in the second half but we couldn’t have got much worse.
“We need to do so much better than that if we want to be challenging at the top of the Championship.”
With a trip to face Rangers in the last 16 of the Betfred Cup on Wednesday, Murdoch added: “We know we’ll need to play better than that at Ibrox. If we play like we did in the first half, it might be a long night.
“However, that’s a game we are all looking forward to. It’s a massive occasion for the club and is a very different challenge to the Livi game, one we are relishing.”
Livi exploded from the blocks at the Tony Macaroni Arena.
The hosts claimed a deserved lead on the half-hour when Pittman collected a short corner from Josh Mullin, woefully unimpeded, and surged to the edge of the box to curl a shot through a forest of legs.
A dismal opening 45 from the visitors was typified when debutant Fraser Aird was withdrawn 37 minutes into his Pars bow to be replaced by David Hopkirk.
Dunfermline boss Allan Johnston said: “We needed to make a change and I could have taken off anyone.”
A Carrick header was cleared off the line in the second half as David Hopkin’s men sought to double their advantage.
Livi paid for their profligacy when Cardle latched on to a Hopkirk pass inside the box and plunged to the turf under a challenge from Alan Lithgow.
Despite minimal contact, ref Alan Newlands pointed to the spot and Higginbotham converted the kick.
Mullen could not do the same with four minutes left on the clock.
The young striker had been scythed down by Jean-Yves M’voto and dusted himself off to take the penalty, only to see it parried to safety by Murdoch.
Mullen, who faced the assembled media after his failure from 12 yards, added: “It was killing me after the game, so disappointing. But I’ll get over it and, if we get another penalty, I’ll be ready to step up again.”