Pars Eurotrashed

PAUL FORSYTH AT EAST END PARK

DUNFERMLINE 0
HEARTS 0

HEARTS failed to open the 12-point gap on Dunfermline that would have all but secured them a place in Europe, but there was no reason for them to be disappointed. They struggled against their nearest challengers for third place at East End Park yesterday, and were entitled to be relieved that the match had remained scoreless.

That they are still nine points clear of Jimmy Calderwood’s side is thanks in the main to their defensive resilience, epitomised by the excellent Steven Pressley, and a sound performance by their goalkeeper, Craig Gordon. Dunfermline were no great shakes either in what was a rotten match on the Fife plastic, but this was an opportunity missed for them.

They had spent much of the season in close competition with Hearts for a UEFA Cup spot, so it must have been galling for them to find that this long-awaited showdown between the sides was being billed as their last chance. Only the other week Calderwood was on about making that next step, leapfrogging their counterparts from across the bridge, and securing the European place that has become their holy grail. Yesterday, while a draw was not much use to them, a defeat would have killed off that possibility, a fate they could ill afford.

There is not much Dunfermline have been able to afford lately. This was the final match at East End Park since their players agreed to take a pay cut, a result of emotional blackmail, the alternative to which was administration. They have invited Nazareth to play a fund-raising gig in the town next month, but the club are the ones who are rocking.

Calderwood’s problems were compounded by the absence through injury of the two players who have done more than any other to take the team this far. Craig Brewster was out with an ankle injury, as was his striking partner, Stevie Crawford, with a hamstring complaint, leaving Noel Hunt up front alongside Barry Nicholson and Derek Young.

Hunt, a little pest of an Irishman, has been bugging defences with the same thoroughness that the British government has Kofi Annan, but it is for more than his tenacity that the striker is turning heads in Fife. The confidence with which he chested down, and hit on the spin a cross by his compatriot, Richie Byrne, deserved better than a shot that dipped over.

That was an early indication of what to expect from a Dunfermline team who played three at the back, three up front and knew that nothing less than a win would be satisfactory. The frequency with which goalkeeper Craig Gordon was called into action during a demanding first half was such that the Hearts support took to chanting his name and demanding that he respond with a wave.

He made three competent saves during that opening period, from Scott Thomson, Darren Young and, most notably, Derek Young, whose low snap shot forced the goalkeeper to throw himself low to the right. Hearts full-back Alan Maybury will be glad of his team-mate’s agility, for it was he who offered Young the opportunity with a poor defensive header.

The Hearts support had turned up in such numbers that the kick-off was delayed by five minutes, and some half an hour after the match had started, they were spilling out of the packed stand behind Gordon’s goal and along the trackside. Not that their team seemed to be approaching so significant a match with quite the same enthusiasm.

Without Mark De Vries and Paul Hartley, suffering calf and groin complaints respectively, Hearts were far from their usual selves. Kevin McKenna, who has been slotting into a back three lately, was expected to deputise up front for De Vries, but instead adopted an advanced position on the right of midfield. That left Andy Kirk and Dennis Wyness with the task of troubling Dunfermline’s three beanpole defenders, but their failure to do so gave credence to Craig Levein’s liking for target men.

McKenna’s displacement was no doubt designed to offer Hearts height where Dunfermline had less of the commodity, but the threat he posed during a difficult first half for the visitors was on the ground. The big Canadian cut inside and, with a typically scrappy attempt, sent a deflected shot spinning wide of the left-hand post.

There was no mistaking Dunfermline’s desperation for maximum points. Their supporters booed referee Kenny Clark off the pitch at half-time, so incensed were they by his decision not to penalise Gordon for picking up a passback. The extent of those protests would have been understandable had their team not already proven that they were capable of scoring by themselves.

Dunfermline’s inability to capitalise on their upper hand appeared not to discourage. They further demonstrated their superiority early in the second half, when Barry Nicholson, much like Hunt in the first half, chested down a cross and swivelled to pull it wide of the post. The woodwork, though, would not escape assault for much longer.

What a spanking the right-hand post took just short of the hour mark. In setting up what was certainly the most spectacular incident of the match, Derek Young carried the ball a ridiculous distance, drawing defenders out of position, and then gently teeing it up for Greg Shields. The former Kilmarnock player didn’t even have to break his stride as he let rip with a low shot that belted off the upright.

As the game wore on, Calderwood threw Andy Tod up front in an effort to find the vital goal, but it was to no avail. Just a few minutes from the end, when Scott Thomson failed in the six-yard box to connect with a loose ball, Dunfermline’s chance was gone.

Taken from the Scotsman