The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Raith hold on as Pars dominate
The battle for bragging rights in Fife ended in stalemate with visitors Raith the happier side to have taken a point.
Despite the scoreline, a pulsating 90 minutes warmed up the 5,649 shivering spectators who had braved the falling temperatures to witness the first league encounter between the teams at East End Park for almost four years.
Outstanding for the Kirkcaldy side on the day was veteran goalkeeper Kevin Cuthbert, who made a series of exceptional saves to deny the Pars forwards, notably during a first half which the home side dominated.
Cuthbert, who has made over 300 senior appearances in his 15-year professional career, clearly enjoyed the occasion and relished the banter with the home fans.
“I was getting a wee bit of stick from the Dunfermline fans,” he said, “but that’s all part and parcel of the game, especially in derby matches.
“Today was a typical derby game and these are the sort of occasions you want to be involved in.
“It’s good for Raith and Dunfermline to be playing each other on a regular basis.
“Compare today with last Saturday when we played Queen of the South at half-past five in front of empty stands. Nobody wants to see that but a game like this shows off how good the league is.
“I felt we gave a good account of ourselves today. Our defending has been particularly good in the past few weeks and we’re in a far better place now than we were a month ago.”
The Pars came out of the traps flying and pressurised Raith for the entire first half, stretching the Rovers defence with intelligent wing play from Joe Cardle and Kallum Higginbotham whose piercing runs and probing crosses created a succession of opportunities for the strike force of Farid El Alagui and Nicky Clark.
Cuthbert and his colleagues in the Raith rearguard defended heroically, however, repelling the constant wave of attacks with which they were faced and ensuring their side reached half-time on level terms.
The visitors looked a more focused side after the break and could have won the game had Ross Callaghan shown greater belief in front of goal, the Raith midfielder squandering two excellent chances before the game reached its goal-less conclusion.
Pars midfielder Cardle admitted he was ‘gutted’ that his team had taken only a point from the game.
“I enjoyed it today,” he said. “It’s good to have the derbies back at East End Park but I’d have enjoyed it more if we had taken all three points. It was very frustrating to come off the pitch with nothing more than a draw.
“I felt we controlled the game from start to finish, were in their faces throughout, created some good chances and played some good football.
“On the positive side, it wasn’t a defeat and we kept a clean sheet.”