Pars goalie’s plea for calm

DUNFERMLINE keeper Sean Murdoch has called for cool heads as the Pars prepare to meet fierce foes Falkirk for the first time since two Bairns players were suspended for verbally abusing his team-mate Dean Shiels. Murdoch insists it would be natural to expect a reaction after Kevin O’Hara and Joe McKee received eight and

four-match bans respectively for mocking Shiels during Falkirk’s 2-0 win in the Irn-Bru Cup at Westfield in October. The pair, who are not eligible to play today, were found guilty of excessive misconduct at an SFA hearing after mocking the attacking midfielder over the fact he has only one eye. Shiels, who lost his eye as a result of a childhood accident, was sent off for a late lunge on McKee. The unsavoury incident only came to light after the last meeting between the teams in November, a fiery 1-1 draw in Falkirk that saw Dunfermline finish with nine men, when Kallum Higginbotham and Declan McManus were sent off. There is likely to be a volatile atmosphere surrounding this afternoon’s Championship encounter at East End Park. Last night, Murdoch joined Pars boss Allan Johnston and Falkirk counterpart Paul Hartley in issuing a plea for calm. But he admitted the sorry episode could give the Pars extra motivation to secure a second home league win of the season against their bitter rivals. Murdoch said: ‘Cool heads is maybe a good message, because we need 11 men. We don’t want to be wound up by what’s happened in the past. ‘We certainly won’t need much motivation for this one. There have been sendingsoff and they’ve been pretty feisty games. It (the Dean Shiels abuse) did play a part in the last game. ‘We’re all team-mates, we’re all friends of Dean as well. So we definitely wanted to get one over on them. What happened to Dean, it was pretty poor on Falkirk’s behalf. But it’s done and dusted now, we just need to focus on the game.’