Dunfermline Athletic increased their lead at the top of League 1 with a 1-0 victory away to Falkirk, thanks to a Craig Wighton header.
A near-packed Falkirk Stadium was noisy as the sides emerged and the smoke bombs let off in each end left a pungent smell in the air for the first few minutes.
A total of 7279 made the match in a near-sellout crowd – 1976 of those Pars fans.
âš½The teams are out pic.twitter.com/L5hElKWiJl
— Craig Cairns (@craigcairns001) November 5, 2022
Wighton added to his great run of form, scoring his fourth goal of the season on the hour mark.
The striker has scored all four of those in the last six since his return to fitness.
With Edinburgh losing at home to Queen of the South the result leaves Dunfermline six points ahead at the top of the division.
Key moments
It was a largely uneventful first half, with Falkirk having a lot of the ball without doing much with it.
When the Pars did look dangerous it tended to be on the break and this continued into the second half.
Overall the away side were better after the break and it wasn’t long until the extra pressure told.
Wighton stooped to head in Joe Chalmers’ inswinging corner from close range – sending the Pars wild.
Uninterrupted goal celebrations 👌 pic.twitter.com/vqrFcufB0S
— Craig Cairns (@craigcairns001) November 5, 2022
Naturally, Falkirk pressed for an equaliser and the Pars had Fisher to thank for clearing the danger from a corner – intentional or not.
A few yards out and facing his goal, he sliced his volleyed clearance over the bar.
Matty Todd missed a chance to make it 2-0 very late on but his shot was from an awkward angle and saved by the legs of keeper Nocky Hogarth.
Player ratings
Dunfermline (4-3-3): Mehmet 7; Comrie 8, Fisher 7, Benedictus 8, Edwards 8; Todd 7, Hamilton 8, Chalmers 8; Macdonald 7, Wighton 8 (Todorov 6), Mochrie 7 (Breen 6). Subs not used: Little, Allan, Ritchie-Hosler, Young, Tod, Sutherland, Mahon.
Star man
The biggest battle on the day was between Kyle Benedictus and Rumarn Burrell and the Pars captain came out on top.
If anyone was going to make something happen for the Bairns it was Burrell but the Dunfermline captain barely let him out of his sights.
Manager under the microscope
James McPake made two changes to the side that started versus Kelty Hearts the week before.
Chris Hamilton and Kyle Macdonald came in for Rhys Breen and Nikolay Todorov as the Pars manager moved to a back four.
📊Could very well be a back three with a Comrie and Macdonald at wingback but that would require quite a reshuffling of the defence. pic.twitter.com/GKda2KdXZ3
— Craig Cairns (@craigcairns001) November 5, 2022
Whether by design or not, Dunfermline line five across the middle of the field when without the ball.
For the first half hour Falkirk had a lot of possession in their own half but failed to create anything with it.
The Pars looked a threat on the break and looked more dangerous then their hosts when they started to come into it – but there was still little for Hogarth to do.
The second half saw the Pars take the game to their opponents a bit more and remained most threatening from counters.
If this was intentional to avoid a repeat of the first half the last time these sides met, it worked a treat.
Man in the middle
Alan Newlands let flow a fixture which can boil over.
Burrell was booked midway through the second half in a quiet afternoon for the referee – even if the home support were unhappy with a few decisions.
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