The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Domination turns to frustration for Pars
Home side left wondering how they lost game
Dunfermline’s season so far has been described as a “stop-start” affair, with the Pars having been unable to put together a decent run of positive results.
Their derby fixture against bottom of the table Falkirk at East End Park should have provided the opportunity to build on last weeks’ victory over Alloa.
However, the end result proved yet another setback as, despite dominating play for large parts of the game, they fell to their fifth home defeat of the season.
The Bairns’ on-loan Rangers youngster Zac Rudden fired home from 25 yards midway through the second half to give Ray McKinnon’s men a rare but welcome victory.
The mood of the game was established early on with Dunfermline creating two excellent chances early on then squandering a litany of scoring opportunities before Rudden struck in what was Falkirk’s only shot on target during the 90 minutes.
Pars midfielder Myles Hippolyte was left frustrated at taking nothing from the encounter with his former club.
“I don’t know how we didn’t win the game” said Hippolyte. “It’s a game we should have put to bed after the first few minutes.
“We dominated the game – it’s clear to see and the stats don’t lie – and it’s very frustrating. As always with derby games, everyone was up for it and we really wanted to win.
“We started well, created plenty chances and we should have won by a few. If we’d scored in the first minute as we should have then I think we would have gone on to win by three or four.
“It’s not the first time this has happened but I’m not sure what the answer is – we just have to be positive and believe that we can score.”
A mere 35 seconds had passed since referee Andrew Dallas’ whistle had signalled the start of the game when Dunfermline frontman Andy Ryan missed a glorious chance to put his side in front.
Kallum Higginbotham, named in the starting line up for the first time since early September, fired in a powerful shot which was brilliantly stopped by Leonardo Fasan.
The loose ball fell to the feet of Ryan who, from a distance of three yards, tapped the ball tamely into the welcoming arms of the Falkirk keeper.
Higginbotham, another ex-Bairn, then released Joe Thomson, whose shot was blocked and for the remainder of the first half it was one-way traffic towards the Falkirk goal.
A warning was signalled to the Fifers early in the second half when Paul Paton’s shot struck the crossbar with Pars keeper Lee Robinson helpless but Dunfermline’s attacking momentum continued, with substitute Faissal El Bakhtaoui and Higginbotham both being denied by the overworked Fasan before Rudden’s superb 71st minute strike.
“I’m really annoyed about what happened today” continued a clearly deflated Hippolyte. “They had one shot and they scored from it. We’ll just have to bounce back when we face Ross County in a fortnight.”
If we’d scored in the first minute as we should have then I think we would have gone on to win by three or four. MYLES HIPPOLYTE