Dunfermline eased their way into the fourth round of the Scottish Cup with a 4-0 victory over Forfar at East End Park.
Craig Wighton opened the scoring by finishing Aaron Comrie’s cutback before Kane Ritchie-Hosler – making his first start – added a second.
Josh Edwards added a third before half-time before Wighton added his second with a lovely dink – his sixth goal of the season.
Forfar gave a good account of themselves for much of the first half but the Pars superiority showed.
The win puts James McPake’s side into the hat for Monday’s fourth-round draw.
Line-ups
Other than Ritchie-Hosler it was familiar faces in a familiar shape for Dunfermline.
Chris Mochrie and the Rangers loanee started either side of Wighton in attack.
Here's how the Pars could line up. pic.twitter.com/vjJOI24EEE
— Craig Cairns (@craigcairns001) November 26, 2022
Forfar had used a back three and a back four in McKinnon’s first two matches as manager ahead of this one.
He made two changes, bringing in Darren Whyte and Joshua Jack for Mark Docherty and Nathan Flanagan, sticking with a three-man defence.
Dunfermline (3-4-3): Mehmet; Fisher, Benedictus, Breen; Comrie (Macdonald), Todd (Hamilton), Chalmers, Edwards; Ritchie-Hosler (Todorov), Wighton, Mochrie (T Sutherland). Subs: Little, Young, Tod, Hoggan.
Forfar (3-5-2): McCallum; Dailly, Whyte (Hussain), Munro; Nditi, Hutton, Jack (Armour), Slater (Docherty), Brindley (Flanagan); Aitken (Ferguson), McCluskey. Subs: Thomson, Abed, Hanratty, Ross.
Key moments
This match panned out pretty much as expected given the respective league positions of the side.
The key part of the match came when Mochrie – and to a lesser extent Ritchie-Hosler – started to drop deeper to link play.
Mochrie dropped into his own half, almost level with Rhys Breen at times.
Forfar didn’t come to sit in but it took the Pars a while to figure them out.
The Dundee United coming deep to start attacks – while Edwards pushed on like a left winger – was key to this.
Star man – Dunfermline
You’ve probably guessed from the above but Mochrie was again head and shoulders above everyone else.
The way he can drop a shoulder and spin his man is unrivalled in League 1, never mind against League 2 opposition.
He may have faced more competition had Ritchie-Hosler stayed on the pitch.
The former Manchester City youth received treatment after a heavy foul from Andy Munro in the first half.
He was down again not long after the restart and was replaced by Nikolay Todorov.
Star man – Forfar
Despite their bright start it was slim pickings for a star player on the Loons side.
Stefan McCluskey went closest for the visitors when he shot over the bar at 0-0 and looked like he could cause the Pars a few issues.
He was moved back into midfield by McKinnon in a half-time switch but he and Forfar were chasing the game in a difficult second half.
Managers under the microscope
McPake wouldn’t have been exactly sure how his opponents would line up given the recent change of manager.
McKinnon had played a back four and a back three in his two draws after taking over.
The Pars boss, as he has a few times this season, went with a front three against the back three of Forfar.
To their credit, McKinnon’s side tried to take the game to the Pars – many sides the league above them have come to East End Park to pack the defence.
But Dunfermline’s quality told on the day, with the like of Joe Chalmers and Ritchie-Hosler in possession – and especially Mochrie.
Just before the second goal McKinnon replaced Roberto Nditi with Nathan Flanagan,in a switch to a back four.
But the Pars never looked back after Ritchie-Hosler doubled their lead second later.
Man in the middle
Referee Iain Sneddon had to book Jack early on for a hefty challenge on Matty Todd.
Later he booked Munro for bringing down Ritchie-Hosler – which ultimately ended his game.
It certainly wasn’t the first foul he and Mochrie had suffered and Sneddon perhaps could have acted earlier.
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