The Championship play-off final first leg between Fife rivals Cowdenbeath and Dunfermline turned out to be a very scrappy affair.
The tension of securing a place in Scotland’s second tier seemed to affect the teams as they struggled to carve out many clear-cut chances but a draw away from home was probably a better return for Dunfermline in front of Central Park’s biggest crowd in years.
Pars boss Jim Jefferies was happy enough at full-time.
“There was not a lot of good football played out there but I certainly felt the better chances fell to us,” he said.
“It is only half-time and it is up to us to make home advantage count on Sunday.”
Cowden manager Jimmy Nicholl was disappointed not to get a lead for the second game.
“There was a lot of tension in the game and I was concerned how we would react when we lost the opening goal but the lads responded well to get the goal which keeps us very much in this tie,” he said.
In seven minutes a long throw by Cowden’s Rory McKeown was flapped at by Ryan Scully and home skipper John Armstrong’s header was cleared off the edge of the Pars six-yard box by Kerr Young.
Eight minutes later a McKeown corner was met by Darren Brownlie and his header was inches over the Dunfermline bar.
As the Pars retaliated, Brownlie slipped and Ryan Thomson ran clear of the home defence but as he prepared to shoot Lewis Milne got in a challenge and the ball was cleared.
At the end of the first quarter, Cowden threatened again and Kane Hemmings’ head flick had Scully under pressure but the keeper grabbed the ball at the second attempt.
Play became scrappy, with both sides struggling to create any real chances, and by the 35th minute there had been no shots on target for either team but, with nine minutes until the interval, the Cowden defence got in a fankle after an Alex Whittle cross was missed by Thomas Flynn and Thomson put his finish wide, then Faissall El Bakhtoui latched on to a Josh Falkingham pass but he rushed his shot well wide from only 10 yards out.
Then, on the half-time whistle,Hemmings broke clear of the Pars defence and his low right-foot shot was brilliantly blocked by Scully.
Two minutes into the second period, after Stewart was fouled by Young 25 yards out, McKeown’s curling free-kick hit the side net.
Almost immediately at the other end, a long throw from Danny Grainger was missed by Flynn but Stephen Husband’s finish from 10 yards was way too high.
Young’s ball into the Cowdenbeath box was missed by Flynn but the Pars were unable to create anything from the situation and the keeper was able to recover.
With 20 minutes left Grainger’s throw had Flynn under pressure but sub Alan Smith could not convert the loose ball.
With 13 minutes left, however, another long Grainger throw was missed by the home defence and Pars skipper Geggan knocked the ball past Flynn.
The lead lasted only seven minutes. As the Dunfermline defence failed to deal with a Cowdenbeath move involving Milne and McKeown, O’Brien clipped the ball past Scully from 10 yards with a right foot shot.