Clark’s clincher turns wasteful Saints to sinners
ALLAN JOHNSTON was delighted after a hard-fought win over fellow Championship strugglers St Mirren secured a vital three points for his Dunfermline side.
In a feisty match, in which both sets of coaches clashed in the technical area, Nicky Clark’s first-half goal was enough to grab victory for the Pars.
The win moves the Pars up into eighth and leaves St Mirren rooted to the bottom of the table with just four points.
Johnston said: ‘It’s been a long time coming. I think the players showed a lot of character because St Mirren put us under a lot of pressure, so I’m delighted for them.
‘I think we had the most clear-cut chances, I can’t remember too many they had.
‘The players deserve a lot of credit and the big players stepped up. It was a real team effort and it was nice to dig one out. Hopefully, we can build on it.’
Saints should have been ahead on 13 minutes. Kyle McAllister did well to skip past Jason Talbot before clipping a cross in from the right but Lewis Morgan’s bullet header went wide.
However, the Pars took the lead on 25 minutes.
Clark kept his composure to finish well from inside the six-yard box after Lee Ashcroft’s attempt was blocked.
St Mirren almost pulled themselves level on 41 minutes when McAllister’s effort was tipped over the bar by Sean Murdoch.
John Sutton blew a golden chance to equalise on 70 minutes when Murdoch spilled a long-range effort into his path but his effort flew just wide.
Despite the Saints laying siege to the Dunfermline goal in the final 10 minutes, the Pars held out.
Saints boss Jack Ross said: ‘The goal we conceded is really poor from our point of view.’